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Archive · Queens #28

Queens #28 (October 23, 2026): solution and step-by-step

The 9×9 Hard puzzle from Friday, October 23, 2026. Play it first; the answer is folded below. Replays don't affect your streak.

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Queens #28 was the 9×9 hard board of Friday, October 23, 2026. Our deduction solver, the same one behind the hint button, finishes it in 42 steps without guessing: 22 follow straight from the rules (a queen's neighbours, a line that already has its queen, a line with one free cell left), 18 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 are lavender and mint, and small regions are where the board opens up.

Queens #28 in numbers

Board9×9, Hard
Regions9, from 2 to 23 cells
Deduction steps42
Rule steps (neighbours, satisfied lines, last cell)22
Confinement steps18
“What if” contradictions2
Solver difficulty score36
How to start Queens #28: 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 lavender region is in column 2, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of column 2 is crossed out.

  2. Cross out 7 cells. Every free cell of the mint region is in column 5, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of column 5 is crossed out.

  3. Cross out 5 cells. Every free cell of the coral region is in column 1, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of column 1 is crossed out.

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

  5. Cross out row 2, column 3. This cell touches every free cell of column 2 — a queen here would leave column 2 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  6. Cross out row 3, column 1. This cell touches every free cell of column 2 — a queen here would leave column 2 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  7. Cross out row 3, column 3. This cell touches every free cell of column 2 — a queen here would leave column 2 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  8. Cross out row 2, column 4. This cell touches every free cell of column 5 — a queen here would leave column 5 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  9. Cross out row 2, column 6. This cell touches every free cell of column 5 — a queen here would leave column 5 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  10. Cross out row 3, column 4. This cell touches every free cell of column 5 — a queen here would leave column 5 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  11. Cross out row 3, column 6. This cell touches every free cell of column 5 — a queen here would leave column 5 with no queen, so it's crossed out.

  12. Cross out 9 cells. The gold region and the coral region all fit inside rows 1 and 4, so those 2 rows' queens are theirs — every other cell in rows 1 and 4 is crossed out.

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

Queens #28 solution

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

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

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