Find the Cat #160: 8x8 Grid Puzzle (Medium)

medium

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

0 / 8 cats · 0:00
Red (14)Orange (10)Yellow (10)Green (6)Teal (8)Blue (11)Purple (4)Pink (1)

Can you place all 8 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 Pink region has only one open square left: R6C5. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R3C7. Cross that square out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R2C7. Cross that square out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R1C8, R4C8, R5C8, R7C8 and R8C8. Cross those squares out.
  5. The Teal region has only one open square left: R7C7. Put a cat there.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Orange region ends up, it rules out R3C6, R4C3 and R4C4. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Green region ends up, it rules out R4C6. Cross that square out.
  8. The Orange region has only one open square left: R3C4. Put a cat there.
  9. The Blue region has only one open square left: R5C3. Put a cat there.
  10. The Purple region has only one open square left: R2C8. Put a cat there.
  11. The Green region has only one open square left: R1C6. Put a cat there.
  12. The Red region has only one open square left: R4C1. Put a cat there.
  13. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R8C2. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Pink region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 8 color regions range from 1 square (Pink) to 14 squares. It can be solved in 13 deduction steps using "wherever it goes" eliminations.

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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