Find the Cat #280: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (13)Orange (14)Yellow (12)Green (1)Teal (9)Blue (13)Purple (5)Pink (10)Brown (13)Grey (10)

Can you place all 10 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 Green region has only one open square left: R6C1. Put a cat there.
  2. The Purple region has only one open square left: R5C3. Put a cat there.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R3C8. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R3C5 and R3C6. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R4C8, R7C7 and R8C7. Cross those squares out.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Grey region ends up, it rules out R7C6, R7C8, R7C9, R7C10, R8C4 and R8C5. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R1C7, R2C7, R4C6, R9C7 and R10C7. Cross those squares out.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R3C4. Cross that square out.
  9. The Yellow and Blue regions can only use rows 3 and 4, so rows 3 and 4 are already spoken for. Cross out R3C9, R3C10, R4C9 and R4C10.
  10. The Teal, Blue, Pink and Grey regions can only use columns 2, 4, 5 and 6, so columns 2, 4, 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R1C2, R1C4, R1C5, R1C6, R2C2, R2C4 and 3 more.
  11. The Orange region has only one open square left: R2C8. Put a cat there.
  12. The Red region has only one open square left: R1C10. Put a cat there.
  13. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R4C7. Put a cat there.
  14. The Blue region has only one open square left: R3C2. Put a cat there.
  15. The Pink region has only one open square left: R8C6. Put a cat there.
  16. The Grey region has only one open square left: R7C4. Put a cat there.
  17. The Teal region has only one open square left: R10C5. Put a cat there.
  18. The Brown region has only one open square left: R9C9. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Green region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Green) to 14 squares. It can be solved in 18 deduction steps using grouped row/column/region deductions.

A useful habit is to mark squares you have ruled out. Tap a square once for a cross and twice for a cat -- crosses cost nothing and make later deductions much easier to spot.

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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