An Easy 7×7 Puzzle Solved with Shape Squeeze in 12 Steps
Play this board yourself →A
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This 7×7 board rates as easy (difficulty score 779). Solving it from scratch takes 12 logical steps, using 6 techniques: Single cell, Row/column exclusion, Adjacency clear, Region confinement, Paired regions, Shape squeeze. Every step below is forced: nothing here is a guess.
- First, every open cell left in this region sits in column G, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the column.
- Next, every open cell left in this region sits in column F, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the column.
- Then, every open cell left in this region sits in column E, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the column.
- After that, together, two regions have open cells only in columns C and D; with one marker each, those two markers have to fill exactly those two columns, so every other region's open cells there can be cleared.
- Now, every remaining candidate in this region touches F1 and F2, so whichever candidate ends up marked will clear them, and they can be ruled out now regardless of which one wins.
- From there, place a marker at F3. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 3, column F, and its region. Placing here also clears its 2 touching neighbours.
- Following that, place a marker at G1. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 1, column G, and its region.
- First, place a marker at C7. Column 3 has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 7, column C, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
- Next, place a marker at B5. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 5, column B, and its region. Placing here also clears its 2 touching neighbours.
- Then, place a marker at A2. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 2, column A, and its region.
- After that, place a marker at D4. Region has exactly one open cell left.
- Finally, place a marker at E6. Region has exactly one open cell left.
The key move here was Shape squeeze. Once you can spot that, this board falls quickly. ∎