Incidentally, I have asked the administrators of Warwick blogs whether I can get some better printing functionality. I suppose you’ll have to make do with right-clicking the image etc for now. Enjoy!
#045 Kakuro – rated mediumAll puzzles © Tom Collyer 2009-10
Didn’t you learn as I did from my themed puzzle that kakuro is just not that popular?
ReplyDeleteI liked a lot of what you did here although I was fighting various temptations to short-circuit the solving process since I certainly was on the same wavelength with your construction.
As a silent reader of both Kakuro puzzles last week, I’ll concur that these hold no interest for me either. I probably wouldn’t even do them on nikoli.com if I didn’t like the table at the bottom of the index to be full of bold numbers. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteWhilst I’m aware that kakuro isn’t apparently everyone’s cup of tea amongst more seasoned puzzlers, I’m making a quiet effort to ensure that my puzzles don’t scare off the so-called “commuter class” of solvers. A lot of my traffic understandable comes from the immediate surroundings of the university, and I think it’d be nice to appeal to those who aren’t part of the puzzling hardcore. For example, some of the nurikabe I’ve done have been well received by people here who I’d not necessarily have thought to have tried new puzzles.
ReplyDeleteThis is part of the reason why there isn’t as huge a variety of logic puzzles on my blog as there is in both of yours, and again why my puzzles are seldom very large in size.
When it comes to kakuro, I actually enjoy the type, and I’m sure after making a couple more the constructing process won’t be quite as fiddly (although the formatting will be). More importantly though, I think kakuro firmly falls into the comfort zone of the “commuter class” – it’s a newspaper staple, firstly in The Guardian and now also in The Times. The newspaper puzzles are a bit rubbish in my opinion, so the deal with these two puzzles is to provide a step up for the sorts of people who’d be doing those puzzles. Bonus for me if other people appreciate them!
“Whilst I’m aware that kakuro isn’t apparently everyone’s cup of tea amongst more seasoned puzzlers, I’m making a quiet effort to ensure that my puzzles don’t scare off the so-called “commuter class” of solvers. A lot of my traffic understandable comes from the immediate surroundings of the university, and I think it’d be nice to appeal to those who aren’t part of the puzzling hardcore. . . . This is part of the reason why there isn’t as huge a variety of logic puzzles on my blog as there is in both of yours, and again why my puzzles are seldom very large in size.”
ReplyDeleteLikewise here; I try to maintain a good balance of puzzles appropriate for veterans and puzzles appropriate for newbies who might be scared of puzzles. Sometimes, a newbie will solve one of the easier puzzles, and be emboldened to try the harder ones; for example, several people on the dedicated forum of Housepets!, a decidedly not-very-nerdy webcomic, went on to solve my puzzle 315 (http://mathgrant.blogspot.com/2009/10/puzzle-315-polyominous-34.html) after having solved 360 (http://mathgrant.blogspot.com/2010/01/puzzle-360-seek-and-spell-8.html). :)
Yahoo! Keep up the good kakuro work!
ReplyDeleteWhether it was intended or not, I happened to appreciate the 3 (solution, not clue) closest to the SE corner of the puzzle. It felt like a neat trick, tho that may be because it’s 2am. Anyhow, thanks for the good fun.