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Archive · Queens #21

Queens #21 (October 16, 2026): solution and step-by-step

The 9×9 Hard puzzle from Friday, October 16, 2026. Play it first; the answer is folded below. Replays don't affect your streak.

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Queens #21 was the 9×9 hard board of Friday, October 16, 2026. Our deduction solver, the same one behind the hint button, finishes it in 36 steps without guessing: 21 follow straight from the rules (a queen's neighbours, a line that already has its queen, a line with one free cell left), 13 come from confinement (a region squeezed into one row or column, or several regions sharing the same rows), and 2 need a “what if” check: imagine a queen in a cell and watch some row, column or region run out of room. The regions range from 2 to 23 cells; the smallest is gold, and small regions are where the board opens up.

Queens #21 in numbers

Board9×9, Hard
Regions9, from 2 to 23 cells
Deduction steps36
Rule steps (neighbours, satisfied lines, last cell)21
Confinement steps13
“What if” contradictions2
Solver difficulty score33
How to start Queens #21: the first 12 deductions

Each step is a deduction a person can make, in the order our solver found them. Rows and columns are counted from the top-left corner.

  1. Cross out 7 cells. Every free cell of the gold region is in column 8, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of column 8 is crossed out.

  2. Cross out row 1, column 7. This cell touches every free cell of column 8 — a queen here would leave column 8 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  3. Cross out row 1, column 9. This cell touches every free cell of column 8 — a queen here would leave column 8 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  4. Cross out row 2, column 7. This cell touches every free cell of column 8 — a queen here would leave column 8 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  5. Queen at row 1, column 6. The lavender region has only one free cell left — that must be its queen.

  6. Cross out 3 cells. Queens can't touch, not even diagonally — the cells around this queen are crossed out.

  7. Cross out 5 cells. Row 1 already has its queen — the rest of it is crossed out.

  8. Cross out 7 cells. Column 6 already has its queen — the rest of it is crossed out.

  9. Queen at row 2, column 8. Column 8 has only one free cell left — that must be its queen.

  10. Cross out 3 cells. Queens can't touch, not even diagonally — the cells around this queen are crossed out.

  11. Cross out 4 cells. Row 2 already has its queen — the rest of it is crossed out.

  12. Cross out 3 cells. Every free cell of the mint region is in row 3, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of row 3 is crossed out.

24 more steps follow the same pattern until the 9 queens are placed.

Queens #21 solution

Queens by row: row 1: column 6 (lavender); row 2: column 8 (gold); row 3: column 1 (mint); row 4: column 4 (sky); row 5: column 7 (coral); row 6: column 9 (orchid); row 7: column 2 (lime); row 8: column 5 (rose); row 9: column 3 (teal).

Back to the Queens archive, today's puzzle, or the rules and deductions used above.

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