Daily Queens Puzzle — February 20, 2026

Friday · 11×11 · Hard · Hard · 21 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 3 to 36 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 21 deductions and needs expert techniques, including testing a queen, drawing on 5 distinct techniques. It opens on column 1, ruling cells out before any queen goes down. The queens resolve in the order C11 → F2 → B9 → K8 → J6 → E10 → G7 → I3 → A4 → D5 → H1. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (21 deductions)

Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use column 1, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 1. Rules out A5, A6, A7, A8, A9, A10, A11.
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, E1, F1, G1, K1.
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, D2, E2, G2, H2, I2, J2 and 1 more.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use column 11, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 11. Rules out K3, K4, K5, K6, K7.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use column 10, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 10. Rules out J1, J3, J4, J5, J10, J11.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use column 2, so nothing else can. This reasons over column 2. Rules out B3, B4, B5, B6, B7, B8, B11.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C11.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F2.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B9.
Region line lock essential
Region line lock. This colour must use row 10, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 10. Rules out I10, K10.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K8.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J6.
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 4. Rules out E4, E5, E7, G5.
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 E10. This reasons over column 5.
Ruled out either way expert
Ruled out either way. These cells are ruled out no matter where this colour's queen goes. Rules out H3, H4.
Ruled out either way expert
Ruled out either way. These cells are ruled out no matter where this colour's queen goes. Rules out G4.
Last cell in a line essential
Last cell in a line. Column 7 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G7. This reasons over column 7.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I3.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A4.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D5.
Forced queen essential
Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H1.

Answer: queens at C11, F2, B9, K8, J6, E10, G7, I3, A4, D5, H1.