Challenging Level Queens
For experienced players seeking a real challenge.
0 of 60 solved
Master Challenging Level
- 01
Advanced elimination
Consider multiple constraints simultaneously.
- 02
Chain reasoning
If A is a queen, then B must be, which means C can't be...
- 03
Backtracking
Sometimes you need to try a path and undo if it fails.
- 04
Edge cases
Pay special attention to corner and edge cells.
Explore Other Difficulties
About Challenging Queens
Challenging is a step change rather than a step up. On a 9×9 board with 60 puzzles, the simple cascades that carried you through Medium tend to stall halfway, leaving a position where no row, column or region has an obvious single option.
Getting past that requires reasoning about constraints you cannot see directly. If three regions can only fit within three particular columns, those columns are spoken for even though no queen has been placed in them yet, and every other region must look elsewhere. Learning to spot those grouped constraints is what this tier is for.
Puzzles take eight to ten minutes and reward patience over speed. This is the largest jump in the game, and players who work through Challenging usually find Hard more familiar than they expected.
Game Rules
- Each row must have exactly one queen.
- Each column must have exactly one queen.
- Each color region must have exactly one queen.
- Queens cannot touch, not even diagonally.
Difficulty Info
- Grid Size
- 9×9
- Average Time
- 8-10 min
- Total Puzzles
- 60
Stuck on a board? Our complete Queens strategy guide walks through the elimination techniques that solve every difficulty, from 9×9 boards up.