How do I solve Queens on LinkedIn?

I’m glad you asked. I can usually solve the daily puzzle in a minute or two. Here’s what I do.

1. Turn on Auto-place Xs

It’s a huge time saver.

2. If there is a region that spans all possible squares of an entire row and an entire column, place a queen on the intersection of that row and column

Because it’s one queen per column and one queen per row, these regions necessarily have a queen on the intersection of the only row and only column possible.

Initial board example:

After eliminating squares:

3. Place a queen on any region that has just one possible square

Whether it’s a one-square-large region, or a region that has had all other squares Xed-out, there’s only one place to put a queen.

4. Place a queen on any row or column that has just one possible square

Likewise with rows and columns.

5. For any regions that span all possible squares of an entire row or column, place an X on squares in that region that are not on that row or column

Each row or column needs one queen, so if a region spans all possible squares of a row or column, a queen must be there and not in the rest of the region.

6. Place an X on squares that would block all the possible squares of a region

Example: These two squares would block all of the green region’s squares due to covering three by proximity, and the fourth by row.

7. Any regions that have the only possible squares on one row or column, place an X on all other squares of that row or column

8. Place an X on squares that would overload the number of rows or columns allocated to regions

Example: These two regions have their only possible squares on two rows. Placing a queen on any other square of these two rows would make it impossible to have enough rows for these two regions. The same applies when there are three, four or more regions that have their only possible squares on three, four or more rows or columns. Bear in mind that the rows or columns may not be next to each other.

9. Place an X on the squares of regions that fall outside the rows or columns allocated to regions

Example: These three columns must contain three queens in the three regions available. All other squares in these three regions can be safely eliminated.

10. Repeat steps 2-9 until you solve the puzzle or have to guess

The process of placing Xs will reduce possible squares in regions, and fewer possible squares in regions will reveal new squares to place an X or queen.

11. If you have to guess, start with the region(s) with the fewest possible squares

12. Start by guessing the square that will eliminate the most possibilities

If it’s a dead end, better to hit it early.

13. If at any point while guessing, you X-out all the squares of any region, back out until that region has selectable squares again, then put an X on the square you first guessed, and go back to step 11.

Process of elimination.

14. I’ll race you.

P.S. I’m aware that in my examples, I made some wrong placements. They’re examples.