The king of puzzles.

Are you one of those people who immediately turns to the sudoku puzzle page in your local newspaper? If so, you can thank Maki Kaji . Kaji is the founder of Nikoli, a Japanese company that publishes a puzzle magazine of the same name. He didn't invent sudoku, but he and Nikoli readers refined it into the form now popular in the United States and elsewhere.

Since Kaji struck it big with sudoku, many people have been asking him what the next puzzle fad will be. He thinks that it could be kakuro, which the Nikoli Web site calls "the king of puzzles." Like sudoku, kakuro asks you to figure out where to write single digits [1-9]. But with kakuro, what you write has to add up to a specific number. [See sample puzzle at right.]

Try one yourself--then decide if kakuro is the new sudoku!

Kakuro

Here's how to play:

* Write a single digit, 1-9, in each blank square. Don't use the same number in consecutive squares.

* Rows [across]: Numbers must add up to equal the circled number above the slash.

* Columns [down}: Numbers must add up to the circled number below the slash.

* Write the numbers in the order that will work both down and across. In the last column, 3 has to be 1 + 2, not 2 + 1, because the 4 going across can't be 2 + 2 [same number in consecutive boxes].

[The completed puzzle is in your Teacher's Edition.]

ANSWER: Kakuro puzzle

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