Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — January 30, 2026

Friday · 12×12 · Hard · Medium · 14 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 33 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 14 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 5 distinct techniques. The first queen you can place for certain is C2. The queens resolve in the order C2 → J7 → A1 → B5 → D6 → E11 → I4 → K10 → L8 → F9 → G3 → H12. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (14 deductions)
  1. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C2.

  2. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J7.

  3. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A1.

  4. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B5.

  5. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D6.

  6. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E11.

  7. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use column 12, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 12. Rules out L3, L4, L10, L12.

  8. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I4.

  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 12. Rules out G9, G10, H10.

  10. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Row 10 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K10. This reasons over row 10.

  11. Forced queen essential

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

  12. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F9.

  13. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G3.

  14. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H12.

Answer: queens at C2, J7, A1, B5, D6, E11, I4, K10, L8, F9, G3, H12.