Find the Cat #204: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (7)Orange (13)Yellow (1)Green (17)Teal (16)Blue (14)Purple (9)Pink (6)Brown (7)Grey (10)

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: R5C6. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R7C8. Cross that square out.
  3. The Pink region has only one open square left: R6C8. Put a cat there.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R8C1, R8C2, R8C3, R8C4, R8C5 and R8C10. Cross those squares out.
  5. The Red, Green and Brown regions can only use columns 7, 9 and 10, so columns 7, 9 and 10 are already spoken for. Cross out R3C7, R9C7, R9C9, R9C10, R10C7, R10C9 and 1 more.
  6. The Grey region has only one open square left: R10C5. Put a cat there.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R7C3. Cross that square out.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R1C2 and R7C4. Cross those squares out.
  9. The Orange region has only one open square left: R9C3. Put a cat there.
  10. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R3C1, R4C1 and R7C2. Cross those squares out.
  11. The Teal region has only one open square left: R1C4. Put a cat there.
  12. The Brown region has only one open square left: R2C10. Put a cat there.
  13. The Green region has only one open square left: R4C9. Put a cat there.
  14. The Red region has only one open square left: R8C7. Put a cat there.
  15. The Blue region has only one open square left: R3C2. Put a cat there.
  16. The Purple region has only one open square left: R7C1. 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 17 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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