Daily Queens Puzzle — January 31, 2026

Saturday · 12×12 · Tough · Medium · 20 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 54 cells.

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

How this board is solved

Solving this 12x12 board takes 20 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 6 distinct techniques. The first queen you can place for certain is A1. The queens resolve in the order A1 → G7 → B4 → F5 → H11 → K10 → D8 → I9 → C6 → E3 → J2 → L12. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (20 deductions)

Single-cell region essential
Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A1.
Single-cell region essential
Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G7.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B4.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F5.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use row 8, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 8. Rules out C8, I8, J8, K8, L8.
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, K6, K9, K12.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use column 8, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 8. Rules out H2, H3, H9, H10.
Shared diagonal neighbour intermediate
Shared diagonal neighbour. Every remaining option for this colour touches these cells, so they are out. Rules out D9, E9.
Shared diagonal neighbour intermediate
Shared diagonal neighbour. Every remaining option for this colour touches these cells, so they are out. Rules out J10, L10, J11, L11.
Shared diagonal neighbour intermediate
Shared diagonal neighbour. Every remaining option for this colour touches these cells, so they are out. Rules out I11, I12.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use row 12, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 12. Rules out C12, D12, E12, H12.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H11.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K10.
Line uses one region intermediate
Line uses one region. 1 columns can only be filled by 1 colours, using them up. This reasons over column 3. Rules out D2, D3, D6, E2.
Last cell in a line essential
Last cell in a line. Column 4 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D8. This reasons over column 4.
Last cell in a line essential
Last cell in a line. Row 9 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I9. This reasons over row 9.
Last cell in a line essential
Last cell in a line. Row 6 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C6. This reasons over row 6.
Last cell in a line essential
Last cell in a line. Column 5 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E3. This reasons over column 5.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J2.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at L12.

Answer: queens at A1, G7, B4, F5, H11, K10, D8, I9, C6, E3, J2, L12.