Find the Cat #113: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

Tap a square: ✕ (ruled out) → 🐱 (cat) → clear

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (12)Orange (9)Yellow (1)Green (9)Teal (9)Blue (5)Purple (7)Pink (12)

Find the 8 hidden cats. Each row, each column and each colored region holds exactly one, and cats never sit on neighboring squares, diagonals included.

  • One cat in every row and every column.
  • One cat in every color region.
  • Cats can’t touch — not even diagonally.

Step-by-step solution

Squares are written as R<row>C<column>, counting from the top-left. Cross out the squares listed, and place a cat wherever a step says so.

  1. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  2. The Blue region has only one open square left: R5C4. Put a cat there.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R2C7. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R1C7 and R2C5. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R4C8. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R4C7, R6C6 and R7C6. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R6C8, R7C8 and R8C8. Cross those squares out.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R7C7, R8C1, R8C2 and R8C5. Cross those squares out.
  9. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R7C1. Cross that square out.
  10. Wherever the cat in column 1 ends up, it rules out R1C2 and R6C2. Cross those squares out.
  11. Column 2 has only one open square left: R7C2. Put a cat there.
  12. Row 6 has only one open square left: R6C7. Put a cat there.
  13. The Pink region has only one open square left: R8C6. Put a cat there.
  14. The Teal region has only one open square left: R1C5. Put a cat there.
  15. The Green region has only one open square left: R2C8. Put a cat there.
  16. The Red region has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Yellow region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Yellow) to 12 squares. It can be solved in 16 deduction steps using "wherever it goes" eliminations.

If a row and a color both have only two open squares and share them, those two lines are locked together -- neither can use squares anywhere else.

This is a variation of the Star Battle family of grid puzzles, sometimes also called Queens-style puzzles, with cats in place of stars.

More medium puzzles