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Archive · Queens #35

Queens #35 (October 30, 2026): solution and step-by-step

The 9×9 Hard puzzle from Friday, October 30, 2026. Play it first; the answer is folded below. Replays don't affect your streak.

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Queens #35 was the 9×9 hard board of Friday, October 30, 2026. Our deduction solver, the same one behind the hint button, finishes it in 34 steps without guessing: 24 follow straight from the rules (a queen's neighbours, a line that already has its queen, a line with one free cell left), 8 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 22 cells; the smallest is gold, and small regions are where the board opens up.

Queens #35 in numbers

Board9×9, Hard
Regions9, from 2 to 22 cells
Deduction steps34
Rule steps (neighbours, satisfied lines, last cell)24
Confinement steps8
“What if” contradictions2
Solver difficulty score26
How to start Queens #35: 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 row 1, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of row 1 is crossed out.

  2. Cross out 5 cells. Every free cell of the teal region is in row 9, so that region's queen must be there — the rest of row 9 is crossed out.

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

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

  5. Cross out row 2, column 6. A queen here would leave no room for a queen in the lavender region — so it's crossed out.

  6. Cross out row 3, column 4. A queen here would leave no room for a queen in the lavender region — so it's crossed out.

  7. Cross out 7 cells. The gold region, the mint region and the sky region all fit inside columns 1, 2, 3, so those 3 columns' queens are theirs — every other cell in columns 1, 2, 3 is crossed out.

  8. Queen at row 8, column 5. The rose region has only one free cell left — that must be its queen.

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

  10. Cross out 3 cells. Row 8 already has its queen — the rest of it is crossed out.

  11. Cross out 5 cells. Column 5 already has its queen — the rest of it is crossed out.

  12. Cross out 7 cells. Every free cell of row 7 is in the lime region, so that region's queen must be in row 7 — its other cells are crossed out.

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

Queens #35 solution

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

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

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