Find the Cat #277: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (8)Orange (8)Yellow (10)Green (8)Teal (1)Blue (14)Purple (5)Pink (17)Brown (12)Grey (17)

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 Teal region has only one open square left: R9C9. Put a cat there.
  2. The Purple region has only one open square left: R1C10. Put a cat there.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R2C3, R2C4, R2C5, R2C6, R2C7, R2C8 and 2 more. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R3C6. Cross that square out.
  5. The Red, Yellow, Green and Grey regions can only use rows 3, 4, 5 and 6, so rows 3, 4, 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R4C5, R4C6, R5C5, R5C6, R6C1, R6C4 and 2 more.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R7C3 and R8C5. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in column 6 ends up, it rules out R7C7, R7C8, R8C7, R10C5 and R10C7. Cross those squares out.
  8. Wherever the cat in column 7 ends up, it rules out R4C8. Cross that square out.
  9. The Red, Orange, Green and Blue regions can only use columns 1, 2, 3 and 4, so columns 1, 2, 3 and 4 are already spoken for. Cross out R7C4, R8C3 and R8C4.
  10. The Brown region has only one open square left: R7C5. Put a cat there.
  11. The Pink region has only one open square left: R10C6. Put a cat there.
  12. Wherever the cat in column 3 ends up, it rules out R3C4 and R4C4. Cross those squares out.
  13. Column 4 has only one open square left: R5C4. Put a cat there.
  14. Column 3 has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  15. The Orange region has only one open square left: R2C1. Put a cat there.
  16. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R4C7. Put a cat there.
  17. The Blue region has only one open square left: R8C2. Put a cat there.
  18. The Grey region has only one open square left: R6C8. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Teal region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Teal) to 17 squares. It can be solved in 18 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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