Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — January 16, 2026

Friday · 12×12 · Hard · Medium · 17 deductions

12 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 12x12 board split into 12 colour regions, needing 12 queens: one per row, one per column, one per region, none touching. Regions run from 1 to 27 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 12x12 board takes 17 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 4 distinct techniques. The first queen you can place for certain is J12. The queens resolve in the order J12 → B11 → K10 → L8 → A2 → C7 → D3 → I6 → H9 → E5 → G4 → F1. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (17 deductions)
  1. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J12.

  2. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B11.

  3. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K10.

  4. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at L8.

  5. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 1, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 1. Rules out A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A9.

  6. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 1, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 1. Rules out A1, I1.

  7. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A2.

  8. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 9, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 9. Rules out C9, D9, E9, F9, G9.

  9. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C7.

  10. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D3.

  11. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I6.

  12. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H9.

  13. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 5, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 5. Rules out G5.

  14. Shared diagonal neighbour intermediate

    Shared diagonal neighbour. Every remaining option for this colour touches these cells, so they are out. Rules out F5.

  15. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E5.

  16. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G4.

  17. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F1.

Answer: queens at J12, B11, K10, L8, A2, C7, D3, I6, H9, E5, G4, F1.