Find the Cat #290: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (13)Orange (15)Yellow (8)Green (1)Teal (12)Blue (17)Purple (9)Pink (10)Brown (9)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 Green region has only one open square left: R4C5. Put a cat there.
  2. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R2C3. Cross that square out.
  3. Wherever the cat in the Grey region ends up, it rules out R1C3, R2C4, R3C1 and R3C2. Cross those squares out.
  4. Wherever the cat in the Brown region ends up, it rules out R1C6 and R1C7. Cross those squares out.
  5. The Teal, Brown and Grey regions can only use rows 1, 2 and 3, so rows 1, 2 and 3 are already spoken for. Cross out R1C1, R1C2, R2C1, R2C10, R3C9 and R3C10.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Yellow region ends up, it rules out R6C9. Cross that square out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Purple region ends up, it rules out R5C2, R6C2, R7C1, R8C1, R9C1 and R10C1. Cross those squares out.
  8. The Yellow and Purple regions can only use rows 5 and 6, so rows 5 and 6 are already spoken for. Cross out R5C3, R5C7, R5C8, R6C3, R6C4, R6C6 and 2 more.
  9. Wherever the cat in the Red region ends up, it rules out R7C4, R7C6, R7C7, R7C8, R7C9, R7C10 and 2 more. Cross those squares out.
  10. The Red and Grey regions can only use columns 2 and 3, so columns 2 and 3 are already spoken for. Cross out R9C2, R9C3, R10C2 and R10C3.
  11. The Orange region has only one open square left: R8C4. Put a cat there.
  12. The Red region has only one open square left: R7C2. Put a cat there.
  13. The Purple region has only one open square left: R5C1. Put a cat there.
  14. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R6C10. Put a cat there.
  15. The Brown region has only one open square left: R2C6. Put a cat there.
  16. The Pink region has only one open square left: R9C7. Put a cat there.
  17. The Blue region has only one open square left: R10C9. Put a cat there.
  18. The Grey region has only one open square left: R3C3. Put a cat there.
  19. The Teal region has only one open square left: R1C8. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Green region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Green) to 17 squares. It can be solved in 19 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.

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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