Find the Cat #228: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (16)Orange (13)Yellow (7)Green (1)Teal (15)Blue (6)Purple (15)Pink (10)Brown (12)Grey (5)

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: R8C4. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R10C6 and R10C7. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R1C2 and R1C3. Cross those squares out.
  4. Columns 1 and 2 can only use the Red and Orange regions, so the Red and Orange regions are already spoken for. Cross out R2C3, R2C5, R3C3, R4C3, R5C3 and R10C3.
  5. Column 3 has only one open square left: R6C3. Put a cat there.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Grey region ends up, it rules out R5C7 and R7C9. Cross those squares out.
  7. The Yellow, Pink and Brown regions can only use rows 7, 9 and 10, so rows 7, 9 and 10 are already spoken for. Cross out R7C1, R7C7, R9C1, R9C2, R10C1 and R10C2.
  8. The Grey region has only one open square left: R5C9. Put a cat there.
  9. The Orange region has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.
  10. The Red region has only one open square left: R2C2. Put a cat there.
  11. The Purple region has only one open square left: R3C10. Put a cat there.
  12. The Pink region has only one open square left: R9C8. Put a cat there.
  13. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R10C5. Put a cat there.
  14. The Brown region has only one open square left: R7C6. Put a cat there.
  15. The Blue region has only one open square left: R1C7. 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 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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