Find the Cat #234: 10x10 Grid Puzzle (Hard)

hard

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

0 / 10 cats · 0:00
Red (8)Orange (1)Yellow (7)Green (7)Teal (12)Blue (16)Purple (12)Pink (11)Brown (11)Grey (15)

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 Orange region has only one open square left: R2C8. Put a cat there.
  2. The Red region has only one open square left: R1C6. Put a cat there.
  3. The Green region has only one open square left: R3C10. Put a cat there.
  4. The Teal and Grey regions can only use columns 7 and 9, so columns 7 and 9 are already spoken for. Cross out R4C7, R5C7, R9C7 and R10C7.
  5. The Yellow region has only one open square left: R4C5. Put a cat there.
  6. Wherever the cat in the Blue region ends up, it rules out R5C1, R5C3, R6C1, R6C3, R7C2, R8C2 and 2 more. Cross those squares out.
  7. Wherever the cat in the Pink region ends up, it rules out R7C3, R7C4, R9C4 and R10C4. Cross those squares out.
  8. The Blue, Pink, Brown and Grey regions can only use rows 5, 6, 7 and 8, so rows 5, 6, 7 and 8 are already spoken for. Cross out R7C7, R8C7 and R8C9.
  9. Column 7 has only one open square left: R6C7. Put a cat there.
  10. The Blue region has only one open square left: R5C2. Put a cat there.
  11. The Pink region has only one open square left: R8C4. Put a cat there.
  12. The Brown region has only one open square left: R7C1. Put a cat there.
  13. The Purple region has only one open square left: R10C3. Put a cat there.
  14. The Teal region has only one open square left: R9C9. Put a cat there.

About this puzzle

Where to start: the Orange region is a single square, so its cat is already decided. Its 10 color regions range from 1 square (Orange) to 16 squares. It can be solved in 14 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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