Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — February 13, 2026

Friday · 12×12 · Hard · Medium · 18 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 2 to 37 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 18 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 5 distinct techniques. It opens on row 1, ruling cells out before any queen goes down. The queens resolve in the order J3 → D4 → B12 → L11 → C9 → E1 → G2 → F10 → K6 → A8 → I5 → H7. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (18 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 A1, B1, C1, D1, G1, H1, I1, J1 and 2 more.

  2. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 2, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 2. Rules out A2, B2, C2, D2, E2, H2, I2, J2 and 2 more.

  3. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J3.

  4. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D4.

  5. 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, B5, F5, G5, H5, L5.

  6. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 7, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 7. Rules out A7, B7, C7, E7, F7, G7, K7, L7.

  7. 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 1. Rules out B6, B8, B9, B10, B11, C6, C8, C10 and 4 more.

  8. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 2 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B12. This reasons over column 2.

  9. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at L11.

  10. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 3 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C9. This reasons over column 3.

  11. 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 E1. This reasons over column 5.

  12. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G2.

  13. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 6 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F10. This reasons over column 6.

  14. Shared diagonal neighbour intermediate

    Shared diagonal neighbour. Every remaining option for this colour touches these cells, so they are out. Rules out H6, I6, H8, I8.

  15. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K6.

  16. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A8.

  17. Forced queen essential

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

  18. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H7.

Answer: queens at J3, D4, B12, L11, C9, E1, G2, F10, K6, A8, I5, H7.