Kakuro - Variants

Variants

A relatively common variant of Kakuro is its logical successor, Cross Products (or Cross Multiplication), where the clues are the product of the digits in the entries rather than the sum. Dell Magazines has produced such puzzles but also allowed repeating of digits aside from 1 because of space limitations in the number of digits in each product in a puzzle. Puzzles by Games Magazines are more like crossword puzzles, allowing the implementation of the no-repeating digits rule.

Another variant is having a different range of values that are inserted in the cells, such as 1 to 12, instead of the standard 1 to 9.

A genuine combination of Sudoku and Kakuro is the so called "Cross Sums Sudoku" in which clues are given as cross sums on a standard 9 x 9 Sudoku grid. A relevant variant is the so-called "Cryptic Kakuro" where the clues are given in terms of alphametics and each number represents a digit from 1 to 9.

The final puzzle of the 2004 United States qualifier for the World Puzzle Championship is titled Cross Number Sums Place: it is a Cross Sums where every row and column of the grid (except the top row and leftmost column as usual) contains exactly nine white cells, none of which—even across multiple entries—are allowed to use the same digit twice, like a Number Place (Sudoku); in addition, small circles are printed on the borders between some white cells; numerically adjacent digits must be placed astride those circles, and may not appear orthogonally adjacent when not astride a circle.