Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — February 27, 2026

Friday · 12×12 · Hard · Medium · 16 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 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 16 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 6 distinct techniques. The first queen you can place for certain is J6. The queens resolve in the order J6 → E8 → B11 → L9 → K4 → D3 → C1 → I2 → A7 → G5 → H10 → F12. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (16 deductions)
  1. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J6.

  2. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E8.

  3. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 12, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 12. Rules out A12, B12, C12, D12, H12, I12, K12, L12.

  4. Forced queen essential

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

  5. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 10, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 10. Rules out D10, F10, I10, K10, L10.

  6. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at L9.

  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 9. Rules out F3, G1, G2, G3, H1, H2, H3, K1 and 2 more.

  8. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 11 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K4. This reasons over column 11.

  9. Split-line region lock intermediate

    Split-line region lock. 2 colours fit in only 2 rows, reserving them. This reasons over row 5 and row 7. Rules out A5, C5, 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. 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 C1. This reasons over column 3.

  12. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at I2.

  13. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 1 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A7. This reasons over column 1.

  14. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G5.

  15. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H10.

  16. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F12.

Answer: queens at J6, E8, B11, L9, K4, D3, C1, I2, A7, G5, H10, F12.