Find the Cat #241: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (14)Orange (14)Yellow (14)Green (11)Teal (8)Blue (5)Purple (18)Pink (11)Brown (4)Grey (1)

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 Grey region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R1C1, R1C2, R1C4, R1C5 and R1C6. Cross those squares out.
  3. The Red region has only one open square left: R2C1. Put a cat there.
  4. The Teal region has only one open square left: R10C2. Put a cat there.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R5C6. Cross that square out.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R7C5. Cross that square out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R4C5, R4C6, R4C7, R4C10, R5C8 and R5C9. Cross those squares out.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R5C7, R6C9 and R6C10. Cross those squares out.
  9. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R6C4 and R6C5. Cross those squares out.
  10. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R8C6. Cross that square out.
  11. Wherever the cat in row 6 ends up, it rules out R7C7. Cross that square out.
  12. The Orange and Blue regions can only use rows 5 and 6, so rows 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R6C6.
  13. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R8C4. Put a cat there.
  14. The Green region has only one open square left: R9C6. Put a cat there.
  15. Column 5 has only one open square left: R5C5. Put a cat there.
  16. The Blue region has only one open square left: R6C8. Put a cat there.
  17. The Purple region has only one open square left: R7C10. Put a cat there.
  18. The Pink region has only one open square left: R4C9. Put a cat there.
  19. The Brown region has only one open square left: R1C7. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Grey region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Grey) to 18 squares. It can be solved in 19 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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