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The British Independent and i newspapers run what they call an "Arithmetic Puzzle", which comprises a grid of nine cells, with each cell separated from the others by arithmetic symbols: (+ - / *), and a "result" row/column to the right and below. One or two cells have a single digit pre-inserted, and the task is to insert the other digits so that the equations are valid. Something like this (operations are performed left-to-right and top-to-bottom, not in standard mathematical order):

|  1  | x |  3  | x |  4  | =  12 |
|  +  |   |  +  |   |  -  |
|  8  | x |  5  | x |  6  | = 240 |
|  +  |   |  +  |   |  X  |
|  2  | + |  9  | + |  7  | =  18 |
|  =  |   |  =  |   |  =  |
| 11  |   | 17  |   |-14  |

Is there a specific name for this sort of puzzle?

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    $\begingroup$ Welcome to Puzzling! $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:27
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    $\begingroup$ I think they are called "Cross-Math Puzzles" (not "Math-Cross"!), but right now I can't find any evidence that this is the official name, since you can find the same type of puzzles just by searching "arithmetic grid". $\endgroup$
    – user14478
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 21:39
  • $\begingroup$ Closely related but not an exact match: Number Blocks $\endgroup$
    – humn
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 22:06
  • $\begingroup$ 1 + 3 + 4 = 12 should be 1 x 3 x 4 = 12 (or 1 + 3 + 4 = 8), surely? $\endgroup$
    – paolo
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 12:37
  • $\begingroup$ @paolo, Well spotted. It should have been 1x3x4. Fixed $\endgroup$
    – rojomoke
    Commented Sep 20, 2016 at 12:42

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Simon Tatham's puzzle collection has a manual which refers to them as "small one-player puzzle games". That's a pretty authoritative source, I would expect.

If you're talking about ones that specifically use arithmetic (so including Killer and excluding Sudoku), I doubt there's a better name. You'd probably just replace "puzzle" with "arithmetic", or add "arithmetic" in there somewhere.

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    $\begingroup$ I'm pretty sure rojomoke's question is about a more narrowly defined category of puzzles, and in particular one that includes neither sudoku nor killer sudoku. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan ♦
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 22:03
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, you could be right. It depend how you read "this sort of puzzle"! But on re-reading your view is probably right $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Commented Sep 19, 2016 at 22:06

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