Find the Cat #235: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (1)Orange (5)Yellow (25)Green (9)Teal (15)Blue (7)Purple (8)Pink (13)Brown (6)Grey (11)

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 Red region has only one open square left: R3C6. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R1C9, R2C9, R4C10, R5C10, R6C10, R7C10 and 3 more. Cross those squares out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R5C9. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R9C2. Cross that square out.
  5. The Orange and Teal regions can only use rows 1 and 2, so rows 1 and 2 are already spoken for. Cross out R1C1, R1C2, R1C3, R2C1 and R2C2.
  6. The Green region has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.
  7. The Purple region has only one open square left: R5C8. Put a cat there.
  8. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R7C3. Cross that square out.
  9. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R6C4, R6C5 and R7C2. Cross those squares out.
  10. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R8C4, R8C5, R8C7, R8C9 and R9C3. Cross those squares out.
  11. The Grey region has only one open square left: R7C5. Put a cat there.
  12. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R10C4. Cross that square out.
  13. Wherever the cat in column 9 ends up, it rules out R9C7 and R10C7. Cross those squares out.
  14. Column 7 has only one open square left: R1C7. Put a cat there.
  15. The Orange region has only one open square left: R2C10. Put a cat there.
  16. Column 4 has only one open square left: R9C4. Put a cat there.
  17. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R10C9. Put a cat there.
  18. The Blue region has only one open square left: R8C2. Put a cat there.
  19. The Pink region has only one open square left: R6C3. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Red region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Red) to 25 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.

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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