Find the Cat #292: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (15)Orange (9)Yellow (12)Green (1)Teal (9)Blue (7)Purple (13)Pink (5)Brown (13)Grey (16)

Find the 10 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 Green region has only one open square left: R4C6. Put a cat there.
  2. The Teal region has only one open square left: R3C8. Put a cat there.
  3. The Pink region has only one open square left: R6C5. Put a cat there.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R5C1, R5C2 and R5C3. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R2C1. Cross that square out.
  6. The Yellow and Brown regions can only use rows 1 and 2, so rows 1 and 2 are already spoken for. Cross out R2C2 and R2C3.
  7. The Red region has only one open square left: R7C1. Put a cat there.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R9C2 and R9C3. Cross those squares out.
  9. The Blue, Purple and Brown regions can only use columns 7, 9 and 10, so columns 7, 9 and 10 are already spoken for. Cross out R9C7 and R10C7.
  10. Wherever the cat in the Grey region ends up, it rules out R1C4 and R2C4. Cross those squares out.
  11. Row 2 has only one open square left: R2C10. Put a cat there.
  12. The Blue region has only one open square left: R5C9. Put a cat there.
  13. The Purple region has only one open square left: R8C7. Put a cat there.
  14. Row 9 has only one open square left: R9C4. Put a cat there.
  15. The Orange region has only one open square left: R10C2. Put a cat there.
  16. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R1C3. 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 16 squares. It can be solved in 16 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.

Every puzzle on this site has exactly one solution that can be reached by pure deduction. If you find yourself guessing, look again for a region or line with only a few open squares left.

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