Find the Cat #152: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

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

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (8)Orange (12)Yellow (13)Green (4)Teal (8)Blue (1)Purple (13)Pink (5)

Can you place all 8 cats? One per row, one per column, one per color -- and keep them at least one square apart in every direction.

  • 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 Blue region has only one open square left: R7C7. Put a cat there.
  2. The Green region has only one open square left: R8C1. Put a cat there.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R5C4. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R2C6 and R4C8. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in row 4 ends up, it rules out R3C5. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in row 6 ends up, it rules out R5C2 and R5C3. Cross those squares out.
  7. The Orange and Pink regions can only use columns 6 and 8, so columns 6 and 8 are already spoken for. Cross out R1C6, R1C8 and R3C6.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R1C3 and R2C5. Cross those squares out.
  9. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R3C2. Cross that square out.
  10. Wherever the cat in column 6 ends up, it rules out R4C5 and R5C5. Cross those squares out.
  11. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R6C2. Cross that square out.
  12. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R3C3. Cross that square out.
  13. Wherever the cat in row 5 ends up, it rules out R3C8. Cross that square out.
  14. Row 3 has only one open square left: R3C4. Put a cat there.
  15. The Teal region has only one open square left: R1C5. Put a cat there.
  16. The Red region has only one open square left: R2C2. Put a cat there.
  17. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R6C3. Put a cat there.
  18. The Pink region has only one open square left: R4C6. Put a cat there.
  19. The Orange region has only one open square left: R5C8. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Blue region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Blue) to 13 squares. It can be solved in 19 deduction steps using grouped row/column/region deductions.

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.

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