Easiest KenKen Ever?
August 18, 2014 at 8:11 am 2 comments
Saying that I like KenKen® would be like saying that Sigmund Freud liked cocaine. (Too soon?) ‘Twould be more proper to say that I am so thoroughly addicted to the puzzle that the length of my dog’s morning walks aren’t measured in miles or minutes but in number of 6 × 6 puzzles that I complete. (Most mornings, it’s two.) Roberto Clemente correctly predicted that he would die in a plane crash; Abraham de Moivre predicted that he would sleep to death (and the exact date on which it would occur… creepy); and I am absolutely certain that I’ll be hit by oncoming traffic as I step off the curb without looking, my nose pointed at a KenKen app on my phone and wondering, “How many five-element partitions of 13 could fill that 48× cell?”
I am forever indebted to Tetsuya Miyamoto for inventing KenKen, and I am deeply appreciative that Nextoy, LLC, brought KenKen to the United States. How else would I wile away the hours between sunrise and sunset?
I am also extremely grateful that the only thing Nextoy copyrighted was the name KenKen. This allows Tom Snyder to develop themed TomToms, and it allows the PGDevTeam to offer MathDoku Pro, which I believe to be the best Android app for playing KenKen puzzles.
The most recent release of MathDoku has improved numerical input as well as a timer. Consequently, my recent fascination is playing 4 × 4 puzzles to see how long it will take. A typical puzzle will take 20‑30 seconds; occasionally, I’ll complete a puzzle in 18‑19 seconds; and, every once in a while, I’ll hit 17 seconds… but not very often.
Today, however, was a banner day. I was in a good KenKen groove, and I was served one of the easiest 4 × 4 puzzles ever. Here’s the puzzle:
And here’s the result (spoiler):
The screenshot shows that I completed the puzzle in just 15 seconds. And it’s not even photoshopped.
This puzzle has several elements that make it easy to solve:
- The [11+] cell can only be filled with (4, 3, 4).
- The [4] in the first column dictates the order of the (1, 4) in the [4×] cell.
- The (1, 4) in the [4×] cell dictates the order of the (1, 2) in the [3+] cell.
After that, the rest of the puzzle falls easily into place, because each digit 1‑4 occurs exactly once in each row and column.
What’s the fastest you’ve ever solved a 4 × 4 KenKen puzzle? Post your time in the comments. Feel free to post your times for other size puzzles, too. (I’m currently working on a 6 × 6 puzzle that’s kicking my ass. Current time is 2:08:54 and counting.)
Entry filed under: Uncategorized. Tags: Freud, grid, KenKen, MathDoku, Miyamoto, Nextoy, puzzle.
1.
Atheris | June 25, 2016 at 4:02 am
I am pretty slow, but a really easy Kenken was finished by me in 27 seconds.
2.
venneblock | June 25, 2016 at 5:33 pm
Not slow at all! Like I said, the 15-second time was a rarity, and I’m typically in the 20-30 second range. Also depends on your medium: I’m faster on the MathDoku app than on the official KenKen app; and paper takes me longer than either app. Keep trying… your time won’t start to plateau till you complete 100,000 puzzles or so.