PennyDellPuzzles.com Forum

Amy, you said aside from the number of years. Do you know how old I am? I don't remember telling you but I'm guessing I did. CC

Yes, dirt has nothing on me. CC

IN_Puzzler wrote:

TheDarkHorseOne wrote:

IN_Puzzler wrote:

Does anyone else have a KenKen addiction? I can't get enough of these and have gotten my 10 year old daughter into them. I don't have any of the Dell or PP products specifically, but I have a daily calendar I do when I need to clear my mind at work. The online interface is very good for this puzzle also, better than pap (pencil and paper) but the iPhone app is not as good. I cleaned out a Borders last summer that was shutting it's doors and bought a half dozen of these books (Will Shotz, 300 puzzles each). I find they are also the ideal puzzle for waiting rooms and crowded areas (unlike difficult crosswords which require a bit more concentration). I guess the logic appeals to me (although I am a frustrated sudoku solver) and I enjoy the arithmetic. I also find if I am stuck I can pick one of these up at a later time much easier than with a sudoku. I just wish they would publish one in the paper everyday!

A fellow Hoosier! Hello there. I've only recently come to enjoy KenKen, and they're pretty fun. They evoke certain mathematical notes from Kakuro, or CrossSums as they're also known, and I can thank the aforementioned Bernadette for turning me on to these sorts of puzzles. Like Sudoku with a PHd in math, heheh. I find it interesting that you think they're easier than Sudoku proper. Those are a five minute solve for me nowadays, while my brain gets quite a bit more exercise from a KenKen puzzle. If you like these, you should try your hand at Kakuro, or CrossSums. Like KenKen on steroids with wider variables and different parameters.

In KenKen, you can still fall back on the principle of 1-9. Rows and columns. The puzzle type I mentioned makes you think quite a bit differently, and you need to find different avenues for finding which number goes in what place. A line of 9 (45) may intersect with 9 different variablesand if you're trying to find a place for an 8, for instance, you can winnow things down, but sometimes you need to go through this calculation or that to get to an end product. When I forced myself to learn this puzzle, I got a ton of satisfaction from solving them. I'm not one for math, heheh, so it changed me in that way.

Perhaps that isn't defining what I intend as clearly as I'd hoped, but in summation, I'll just say that if you enjoy what you get from KK, then give some Kakuro or CrossSums a try. And then, you too can thank Bernadette for indirectly leading you to a challenging and engaging puzzle. And yes, you can pick them up where you left off with little interruption in thought process. At least, that's been my experience.

Hello TheDarkHorseOne!

I thought I was the only one around here (Indy) that did puzzles!

I'll have to give those a try. I have to admit I've skipped over those in my variety puzzle books over the past year. I have to say I go in phases. I'll go crossword (Merle Reagle's sunday x-word is my favorite) crazy for a while, then switch to crostics, then switch to some of the "little" puzzles for a while like figgerits, laddergrams, crypto-families and such. I'll do word searches with my small children and a fair amount of sudoke although I have yet to break beyond medium level puzzles. I usually work them during lunch hour and after dinner. Right now I am on a cryptogram phase. I do the ones in the variety puzzle mags without the hints, but I have gotten my 10 year old solving them in the Indy Star every day with the hint. I am also playing Banagrams on my iPOD. I'll definitely check out Kakuro and Cross Sums.

Thanks for the suggestion!
edited by IN_Puzzler on 2/22/2012

Quite welcome and as you said, 'Thought I may be the only one', with the caveat that I was the only one eager enough in my (Let's call it what it is) addiction to come here and post! Heheheh. I'm sure we're not alone, and now it seems we're represented here quite nicely! Not that I wasn't doing well all by my lonesome, heheh. I'm a rather confident sort. Haven't quite grasped the concept of humility, but I'll tell you secretly... Some puzzles do just that to me, heheh.

Love you're here, man. Hope the puzzling world here can stand the onslaught!

Bernadette, I'm fifty three and I believe we have the same Mother. The only variety puzzles she will do are Double Trouble's so I tear them out and mail them to her. She said the other day that the NewYork Times Crossword was beginning to bore her. Oh my, what do I do with that? CC