Mensa® Kakuro

I love these puzzles. I find this so fun. I can sit down with the book and just work my way through puzzles

With the name, I thought the puzzles would be difficult. They’re not, but they’re fun anyway.

This is the second time I have gotten this book. I liked it so much first time I bought another one. It’s challenging but it’s doable.

I've been doing the Dell Cross Sums for years and have completed at least 15 of their 100 puzzle collections. When I saw this Mensa collection, I thought I'd give it a try to see how it compared to the Dell. In the Dell books, the puzzles progress from easy to hard, so I decided to do the last puzzle in the Mensa book first, just to see how bad the worst would be. It polished it off in about 20 minutes, so my initial thought was that the puzzles in this book would be too easy. Well, I was right about the progression from easy to hard - I was able to work through the first 50 or so in short sessions of about 10 to 20 minutes each - but I'm now on 208, and can tell you that the last 20 or so have gotten progressively almost brutally harder. These are requiring multiple sessions to complete, and are really taxing. I've actually thrown up my hands on a couple and moved on.05/05/2013 Update. I just completed the last puzzle. From 208 to about 243, I started to pull my hair at how difficult these had become. In their wisdom, the publishers seem to have made the last few easier, which probably explains why the first one I did (#250) didn't seem so bad. I knocked off the last 6 fairly quickly.The size and format of this book is very nice and an improvement over the larger but thinner pages in the Dell collections. Also, the ink in the Dell books erases along with your pencil marks - not so with the better print quality of this Mensa collection.Both the Dell Cross Sums collections and this Mensa edition offer a large supply of puzzles to occupy the Kakuro enthusiast. Those who say these are too easy for them, should probably find another past time, like rocket science, or nuclear physics to occupy their time. The rest of us will reap many hours of enjoyment and entertainment from this Mensa Kakuro book.

the difficulty is easy-medium so far, but it may get harder further in the book. i most love the number of puzzles in this; 250 instead of most other kakuro books which, for the same price, have 150. they're a decent size, perfect for anyone who enjoys kakuro. could be good practice for beginners-intermediate too.

I am new to Kakuro, but I love sudoku and am an accountant, so I’m a fan of numbers in general. I decided to get this book because it stated it was varying in challenge. Well, it does, but it also starts out pretty hard. Still, I’ve found myself addicted. I piece them out at work, during breaks and free moments. Some puzzles I can do in twenty uninterrupted minutes, others take a couple hours. One took me two days due to my refusal to check the back of the book... even if you’re new to it, but like puzzles and are determined, this is a great buy.

Since the puzzles are hard (challenging?) I find the paper quality in this book to be poor. If I can't see the solution right away and need to mark in some possibilities, I find that the paper deteriorates when I erase and does not erase cleanly. There are other books out there that have paper that stands up to erasing nicely.The difficulty aspect is awesome for those looking for puzzles that take awhile to complete. What good is a puzzle that is finished in just a few minutes? You won't find those in this book.Update 12/12/11: I am tossing away this book after doing over 175 puzzles in it. I find that the puzzles from about 165 on have too many possible solutions to eliminate numbers that go in the cells. I don't want to have to guess at a number and move forward only to find I chose the wrong number out of the possibilities and have to retrace my steps and erase.

Thank goodness books of numbers aren't as easy to memorize as books with words. I love this book so much and consider it such a good buy that I have purchased it four times. These are straightforward kakuro puzzles. None of them are so easy that they are boring; only the first six puzzles are half page, all the rest are full page. The first 150 puzzles are probably what most people would consider to be of medium difficulty - a reasonable use of logic will solve them - and the last 100 are pretty challenging. This is perfect for me, because I do these puzzles to relax not tear my hair out; I enjoy a challenge but I don't enjoy being frustrated. This collection meets my expectations.

I have done Kakuro puzzles before but have just got started on this chunky book. Quite bulky to carry around or pop in a bag for when you might have a few moments to spend puzzling. But there are lots of puzzles. The early puzzles are ok but by no means a push-over for me. It says that they get progressively harder, so we'll have to see at what point they get beyond my abilities. It does at least mean that, whatever your level of expertise at Kakuro, you should be adequately stretched at some point.

Good selection, all non trivial but very enjoyable

The level of this book of Conceptis puzzles is probably somewhere between the Conceptis Green Belt and Brown Belt books. Like most of my experience of things badged 'Mensa', this book seems designed to make Mensa members and wannabe Mensa members feel good about themselves, but in reality these puzzles aren't hard enough to live up to the Mensa superintelligent image. That said, the puzzles are excellent, never running out of logic. Just don't be fooled by the title.

As title; a lot of bang for your buck. These puzzles are well made, well laid out and gradually increase in difficulty towards the back. They should keep you going for weeks if not months. Best book I've seen in this line, and best value.

Small white typeface on black background . Difficult to read. A pity as the puzzles are good.