Find the Cat #260: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (11)Orange (11)Yellow (20)Green (13)Teal (14)Blue (4)Purple (11)Pink (9)Brown (1)Grey (6)

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 Brown region has only one open square left: R4C10. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R9C7. Cross that square out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R9C2. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R1C8 and R2C8. Cross those squares out.
  5. Wherever the cat in the Grey region ends up, it rules out R10C1, R10C2, R10C3, R10C4 and R10C5. Cross those squares out.
  6. The Blue region has only one open square left: R9C1. Put a cat there.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R7C8. Cross that square out.
  8. The Red, Orange, Green and Purple regions can only use rows 5, 6, 7 and 8, so rows 5, 6, 7 and 8 are already spoken for. Cross out R5C3, R5C4, R5C5, R6C2, R6C3, R6C4 and 1 more.
  9. Wherever the cat in row 6 ends up, it rules out R5C6, R5C7 and R5C8. Cross those squares out.
  10. Row 5 has only one open square left: R5C2. Put a cat there.
  11. Wherever the cat in row 7 ends up, it rules out R6C6. Cross that square out.
  12. Wherever the cat in column 4 ends up, it rules out R1C5, R2C3, R2C5, R3C3 and R3C5. Cross those squares out.
  13. Wherever the cat in row 3 ends up, it rules out R2C7. Cross that square out.
  14. Wherever the cat in column 5 ends up, it rules out R7C6, R8C3 and R8C6. Cross those squares out.
  15. Column 3 has only one open square left: R1C3. Put a cat there.
  16. Column 4 has only one open square left: R3C4. Put a cat there.
  17. The Pink region has only one open square left: R2C9. Put a cat there.
  18. The Purple region has only one open square left: R6C8. Put a cat there.
  19. The Orange region has only one open square left: R8C7. Put a cat there.
  20. The Green region has only one open square left: R7C5. Put a cat there.
  21. The Grey region has only one open square left: R10C6. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Brown region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Brown) to 20 squares. It can be solved in 21 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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