About This Quiz
Puzzle fanatics who can’t get enough sudoku and crosswords have turned to kakuro to sate their thirst for a more challenging puzzle. Show us what you know about the game in our quiz.Similar to sudoku, kakuro has a rule that you cannot repeat a digit within a designated vertical or horizontal group of cells. Only do sudoku grids have to be nine cells by nine cells large, and only in kakuro are the clues sums.
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The top row and leftmost column are usually shaded and contain many of the “clues.”
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Three solution sets are possible: 2, 3, 4; 1, 3, 5; 1, 2, 6. Note that 3, 3, 3 can’t work due the no repeat rule.
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Strictly speaking, it is possible to design a kakuro puzzle with more than one solution. However, these are generally considered to be poorly designed.
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Groups made up of fewer boxes tend to be easier to solve because they tend to have have fewer solution sets.
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Kakuro is an abbreviated version of two words: Kasan Kurosu, the Japanese word for “addition” and the Japanese pronunciation of the English word “cross.”
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No solution is possible.
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The American Dell Magazines first published kakuro in 1950. Decades later, it grew in popularity in Japan and eventually the United States.
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One solution set is possible: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
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Nikoli, the same company that popularized sudoku, also was responsible for lifting kakuro out of obscurity.
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