Novice Level Queens

Novice is where Queens starts making sense. The 4×4 board is small enough to hold in your head all at once, so you can learn the four rules — one queen per row, one per column, one per colour region, and no two queens touching even diagonally — without juggling much else.

Most novice puzzles fall in a minute or two, and that speed is the point: you want enough repetitions that checking rows and columns becomes automatic before the boards grow. The technique to take away from this tier is the single-cell region — find a colour region with only one open square and you have a queen for free. On a 4×4 there is almost always one, and spotting it instantly is the habit every later tier is built on.