Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — January 9, 2026

Friday · 11×11 · Hard · Medium · 19 deductions

11 queens left to place.

Tap once to rule a cell out, twice to place a queen. Right-click marks an exclusion directly. Arrow keys move between cells.

A 11x11 board split into 11 colour regions, needing 11 queens: one per row, one per column, one per region, none touching. Regions run from 2 to 25 cells.

The daily board is the same for everyone and gets harder as the week goes on: Friday is set to hard. Every daily puzzle has one solution and needs no guessing.

How this board is solved

Solving this 11x11 board takes 19 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 4 distinct techniques. It opens on row 1, ruling cells out before any queen goes down. The queens resolve in the order B1 → E3 → G6 → K4 → A7 → C9 → I5 → J8 → H2 → D11 → F10. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (19 deductions)
  1. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 1, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 1. Rules out C1, D1, E1, F1, G1, H1, I1, J1 and 1 more.

  2. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 11, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 11. Rules out K2, K3, K7, K8, K9, K10, K11.

  3. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 1, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 1. Rules out A1, A2, A3, A4, A8, A9, A10, A11.

  4. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B1.

  5. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 3, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 3. Rules out C3, C4, C8, C10, C11.

  6. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 5, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 5. Rules out A5, C5, D5, E5, F5, G5, H5, K5.

  7. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 4, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 4. Rules out D2, D3, D4, D6, D7, D8.

  8. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 5, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 5. Rules out E2, E6, E7, E8, E9, E10, E11.

  9. Line uses one region intermediate

    Line uses one region. 1 rows can only be filled by 1 colours, using them up. This reasons over row 2. Rules out F3, G3, H3, I3, J3, G4, H4, I4 and 1 more.

  10. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Row 3 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E3. This reasons over row 3.

  11. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G6.

  12. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K4.

  13. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A7.

  14. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C9.

  15. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I5.

  16. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J8.

  17. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H2.

  18. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D11.

  19. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F10.

Answer: queens at B1, E3, G6, K4, A7, C9, I5, J8, H2, D11, F10.