Meowdoku Level 2: Free Online Puzzle

A cat in every region, row and column; none touching, corners included. Strategy guide.

Reading Level 2's six regions

Pink takes R6C1: 1 cell tucked into the bottom-left corner.

The blue cells: R3C3, R4C3, R4C4, R4C5, R5C3, R5C4, R6C3, R6C4 and R6C5 (a 9-cell patch).

Lilac takes R5C5, R5C6 and R6C6 (3 cells tucked into the bottom-right corner).

The salmon cells: R1C4, R1C5, R1C6, R2C4, R2C6 and R3C6 (a 6-cell patch).

Green takes R2C5, R3C4, R3C5 and R4C6: 4 cells.

Cream takes R1C1, R1C2, R1C3, R2C1, R2C2, R2C3, R3C1, R3C2, R4C1, R4C2, R5C1, R5C2 and R6C2 (13 cells).

Pink touches cream ×3.

Blue touches cream ×12, salmon ×2, green ×7, lilac ×8.

Lilac meets blue ×8, green ×2.

Salmon touches cream ×4, green ×11, blue ×2.

Green borders salmon ×11, cream ×1, blue ×7, lilac ×2.

Cream touches salmon ×4, blue ×12, green ×1, pink ×3.

Every touch above is a live constraint: a cat on one side of a border rules the touching cells on the other side out, corners included.

How to Solve Level 2, Step by Step

The pink region hands you a cat for free: it is a single cell, R6C1. That placement closes row 6 at once (R6C3, R6C4, R6C5, R6C6) and column 1 with it (R1C1, R2C1, R3C1, R4C1). Everything after this point is pointing and counting, no guessing anywhere.

Column 2's open cells are R1C2, R2C2, R3C2 and R4C2, and all four belong to cream. Cream's cat is therefore in column 2, which removes R1C3 and R2C3.

Column 3 has just R3C3 and R4C3 open, both blue, so blue's cat sits in column 3 and R4C4, R4C5 and R5C4 fall away. Lilac's two open cells, R5C5 and R5C6, are both in row 5, so lilac's cat and row 5's cat are the same animal.

Now the blue pair. Empty R4C3 and the cascade ends with row 1 asking for two cats; R4C3 has to be the cat, and row 4 closes behind it with R4C6.

Column 4's open cells all sit inside salmon, so salmon's cat is in column 4, and salmon's cells elsewhere are finished: R1C5, R1C6, R2C6, R3C6. Column 6's open cells all sit inside row 5, so row 5's cat is in column 6, and R5C5, row 5's cell outside that column, is out.

Add up the work: one free cell, three pointing deductions, one contradiction test, two more pointings, then four cells that need only a count. A dozen marks finish the grid, and not one of them was a guess.

Four cells finish it, each with one reason: R3C5 is row 3's only open cell, R5C6 is row 5's, R1C4 is the only open cell left in column 4, R2C2 the only one in row 2. The finished board is R1C4, R2C2, R3C5, R4C3, R5C6, R6C1. Every row, column and region holds one cat, and no two of them touch, diagonals included.

Where Level 2 wants you to slip

Resist R2C5. It blocks R1C4, the salmon region's real cat square, and a board missing that cat cannot be finished.

Hints for Level 2: Four Nudges

• Take the free cat first. Pink is a single cell, R6C1, and that placement closes row 6 (R6C3 to R6C6) and column 1 (R1C1 to R4C1) in one move.
• Now count cells instead of cats. Column 2 is entirely cream, so cream's cat lives in column 2 and R1C3, R2C3 die; column 3 is entirely blue, so blue's cat lives there and R4C4, R4C5, R5C4 die.
• Lilac sits entirely inside row 5, so lilac's cat and row 5's cat are the same animal and R5C3 is out. Then test R4C3: leave it empty and row 1 needs two cats, so R4C3 is blue's.
• Column 4 belongs to salmon, which kills R1C5, R1C6, R2C6, R3C6. Column 6 belongs to row 5, which kills R5C5. Four single cells remain: R3C5, R5C6, R1C4, R2C2.

Answer for Level 2

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