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Archive · Queens #26

Queens #26 (October 21, 2026): solution and step-by-step

The 8×8 Hard puzzle from Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Play it first; the answer is folded below. Replays don't affect your streak.

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Queens #26 was the 8×8 hard board of Wednesday, October 21, 2026. Our deduction solver, the same one behind the hint button, finishes it in 37 steps without guessing: 23 follow straight from the rules (a queen's neighbours, a line that already has its queen, a line with one free cell left), 11 come from confinement (a region squeezed into one row or column, or several regions sharing the same rows), and 3 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 20 cells; the smallest is gold, and small regions are where the board opens up.

Queens #26 in numbers

Board8×8, Hard
Regions8, from 2 to 20 cells
Deduction steps37
Rule steps (neighbours, satisfied lines, last cell)23
Confinement steps11
“What if” contradictions3
Solver difficulty score35
How to start Queens #26: 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 6 cells. Every free cell of the gold region is in column 7, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of column 7 is crossed out.

  2. Cross out 4 cells. Every free cell of the rose region is in row 8, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of row 8 is crossed out.

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

  4. Cross out row 7, column 3. This cell touches every free cell of row 8 — a queen here would leave row 8 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  5. Cross out row 1, column 6. This cell touches every free cell of column 7 — a queen here would leave column 7 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

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

  7. Cross out row 2, column 6. This cell touches every free cell of column 7 — a queen here would leave column 7 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

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

  9. Cross out row 2, column 5. A queen here would leave no room for a queen in the coral region — so it's crossed out.

  10. Cross out row 3, column 5. A queen here would leave no room for a queen in the lavender region — so it's crossed out.

  11. Cross out row 3, column 6. A queen here would leave no room for a queen in the mint region — so it's crossed out.

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

25 more steps follow the same pattern until the 8 queens are placed.

Queens #26 solution

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

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

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