QED Logic quod erat demonstrandum

An Easy 6×6 Puzzle Solved with Paired Regions in 8 Steps

6×6 · easy · 8 steps

Play this board yourself →
A
B
C
D
E
F
1
2
3
4
5
6
1×
×
2×
3×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
4×
×
×
5×
6×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×
×

This 6×6 board rates as easy (difficulty score 638). Solving it from scratch takes 8 logical steps, using 5 techniques: Single cell, Row/column exclusion, Adjacency clear, Region confinement, Paired regions. Every step below is forced: nothing here is a guess.

  1. First, together, two regions have open cells only in rows 1 and 2; with one marker each, those two markers have to fill exactly those two rows, so every other region's open cells there can be cleared.
  2. Next, every open cell left in this region sits in row 3, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the row.
  3. Then, place a marker at C4. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 4, column C, and its region. Placing here also clears its 3 touching neighbours.
  4. After that, place a marker at D1. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 1, column D, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
  5. Now, place a marker at F2. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 2, column F, and its region.
  6. From there, place a marker at A3. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 3, column A, and its region.
  7. Following that, place a marker at B6. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 6, column B, and its region.
  8. Finally, place a marker at E5. Region has exactly one open cell left.

The key move here was Paired regions. Once you can spot that, this board falls quickly. ∎