Queens Grid

Daily Queens Puzzle — October 9, 2026

Friday · 12×12 · Hard · Medium · 15 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 45 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 15 deductions and needs the intermediate group-lock techniques, drawing on 5 distinct techniques. The first queen you can place for certain is A3. The queens resolve in the order A3 → F12 → L4 → B6 → G10 → C9 → K8 → J11 → H1 → I5 → D2 → E7. Every step follows by logic, so you never have to guess.

Techniques this board needs

Full solution, step by step (15 deductions)
  1. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at A3.

  2. Single-cell region essential

    Single-cell region. This colour covers only one cell, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at F12.

  3. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at L4.

  4. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at B6.

  5. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at G10.

  6. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 11, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 11. Rules out C11, D11, I11.

  7. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at C9.

  8. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at K8.

  9. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at J11.

  10. Region line lock essential

    Region line lock. This colour must use row 7, so nothing else can. This reasons over row 7. Rules out H7, I7.

  11. 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 H2, H5.

  12. Last cell in a line essential

    Last cell in a line. Column 8 has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at H1. This reasons over column 8.

  13. Forced queen essential

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

  14. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at D2.

  15. Forced queen essential

    Forced queen. This colour has one legal cell left, so its queen goes there. Place a queen at E7.

Answer: queens at A3, F12, L4, B6, G10, C9, K8, J11, H1, I5, D2, E7.