An Easy 8×8 Puzzle Solved with Shape Squeeze in 13 Steps

This 8×8 board rates as easy (difficulty score 785). Solving it from scratch takes 13 logical steps, using 7 techniques: Single cell, Row/column exclusion, Adjacency clear, Region confinement, Line confinement, Paired regions, Shape squeeze. Every step below is forced: nothing here is a guess.

1. First, every open cell left in this region sits in column H, so its marker has to land there; that clears every other open cell in the column.
2. Next, place a marker at G2. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 2, column G, and its region. Placing here also clears its 3 touching neighbours.
3. Then, every open cell in column A belongs to the same region, so that region's marker has to be somewhere in this column; that clears every other open cell in the region.
4. After that, place a marker at B8. Column 2 has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 8, column B, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
5. Now, every open cell in row 7 belongs to the same region, so that region's marker has to be somewhere in this row; that clears every other open cell in the region.
6. From there, together, two regions have open cells only in rows 4 and 5; 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.
7. Following that, place a marker at C1. Column 3 has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 1, column C, and its region.
8. First, place a marker at A3. Row 3 has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 3, column A, and its region.
9. Next, every remaining candidate in this region touches E5 and D7 and E7, so whichever candidate ends up marked will clear them, and they can be ruled out now regardless of which one wins.
10. Then, place a marker at F7. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 7, column F, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
11. After that, place a marker at E4. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 4, column E, and its region.
12. Now, place a marker at H5. Region has exactly one open cell left.
13. Finally, place a marker at D6. Region has exactly one open cell left.

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