Find the Cat #266: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (9)Orange (8)Yellow (1)Green (10)Teal (8)Blue (14)Purple (14)Pink (6)Brown (11)Grey (19)

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 Yellow region has only one open square left: R2C1. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R1C7, R1C8, R1C9 and R1C10. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R4C2, R5C3, R6C3, R7C2, R8C2, R9C2 and 1 more. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R7C4 and R8C4. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R9C4. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in row 8 ends up, it rules out R6C10, R7C9, R7C10 and R9C9. Cross those squares out.
  7. The Green and Pink regions can only use columns 3 and 4, so columns 3 and 4 are already spoken for. Cross out R1C3, R1C4, R3C3, R3C4, R4C3, R4C4 and 1 more.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R3C7, R3C8, R3C9, R3C10, R4C5 and R4C6. Cross those squares out.
  9. Wherever the cat in row 4 ends up, it rules out R5C7, R5C8 and R6C7. Cross those squares out.
  10. The Orange, Green, Blue and Purple regions can only use rows 4, 5, 6 and 7, so rows 4, 5, 6 and 7 are already spoken for. Cross out R7C6, R7C7 and R7C8.
  11. Wherever the cat in row 7 ends up, it rules out R6C4. Cross that square out.
  12. The Red and Brown regions can only use columns 5 and 6, so columns 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R5C5, R5C6, R6C5, R6C6, R7C5, R8C5 and 5 more.
  13. The Blue region has only one open square left: R4C7. Put a cat there.
  14. The Brown region has only one open square left: R3C5. Put a cat there.
  15. The Red region has only one open square left: R1C6. Put a cat there.
  16. Row 7 has only one open square left: R7C3. Put a cat there.
  17. The Orange region has only one open square left: R5C2. Put a cat there.
  18. The Pink region has only one open square left: R10C4. Put a cat there.
  19. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R8C9. Cross that square out.
  20. The Grey region has only one open square left: R8C8. Put a cat there.
  21. The Teal region has only one open square left: R9C10. Put a cat there.
  22. The Purple region has only one open square left: R6C9. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Yellow region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Yellow) to 19 squares. It can be solved in 22 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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