The Times started the UK Sudoku craze and now we are excited to introduce another great new puzzle. KenKen, which translates as “square wisdom”, is a brainteaser that is sweeping Japan. Created by Japanese mathematics teacher Tetsuya Miyamoto, it is a huge hit, with more than 1 million puzzle books already sold since its launch in 2006.

The rules of KenKen are, as with Sudoku, easy to grasp but underneath the simplicity of the concept lie deep levels of complexity. KenKen has the advantage of being played in several different sizes (there are 4x4 puzzles and 6x6 puzzles) but it can also be played invoving different “operations”, ie, using addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to arrive at the clue numbers. This gives the puzzle much more flexibility. This maths element makes KenKen perfect for numeracy in children and brain-training for adults.

But enough of all this background; the pleasure is in the solving. I hope you like KenKen; I think it is a great addition to The Times’s stable of quality puzzles. For your daily KenKen, see the back page of times2 from Monday and check the games page online at www.timesonline.co.uk/games

KenKen ™ Puzzles are used with permission of Gakken Co., Ltd and Nextoy, LLC. Puzzle content © 2008 Gakken Co. Ltd.

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