Find the Cat #135: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

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

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (1)Orange (9)Yellow (11)Green (11)Teal (9)Blue (4)Purple (11)Pink (8)

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 Red region has only one open square left: R7C5. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Teal region ends up, it rules out R4C3, R4C4, R5C1, R5C2, R5C6, R5C7 and 2 more. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R2C1, R3C1 and R4C1. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R1C2 and R3C3. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R3C7. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in row 1 ends up, it rules out R2C4, R2C8, R3C8 and R4C8. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in column 6 ends up, it rules out R2C7. Cross that square out.
  8. The Orange and Blue regions can only use rows 6 and 8, so rows 6 and 8 are already spoken for. Cross out R6C7, R6C8, R8C7 and R8C8.
  9. The Green region has only one open square left: R4C7. Put a cat there.
  10. Column 8 has only one open square left: R1C8. Put a cat there.
  11. Column 6 has only one open square left: R2C6. Put a cat there.
  12. The Purple region has only one open square left: R3C2. Put a cat there.
  13. The Orange region has only one open square left: R8C3. Put a cat there.
  14. The Teal region has only one open square left: R5C4. Put a cat there.
  15. The Blue region has only one open square left: R6C1. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Red region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Red) to 11 squares. It can be solved in 15 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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