Queens Daily #3 — August 21, 2026
Daily #3 is a Friday board, which makes it a 9×9: a real mid-game in the weekly schedule. This is the exact board published on August 21, 2026 — it is regenerated from its date, so the regions and the single solution are identical to what everyone played that day. The 9 regions on this board range from 1 cell to 22; the largest is the one that sprawls across the board (rows 2–9, columns 2–9). 3 regions start out inside a single row or column, which is where line ownership comes from. The opening gives you 5 forced crowns before the board asks for line ownership (a region that fits inside one row or column).
Where this board sits in the week
- Monday — 7×7, the gentlest board of the week.
- Tuesday & Wednesday — 8×8, the everyday size.
- Thursday & Friday — 9×9, a real mid-game. ← Daily #3
- Saturday — 10×10, the expert board.
- Sunday — 8×8, a recovery board.
Hints for Daily #3 (no full solution)
These hints tell you where to look on this particular board and why, in the order a careful solver would get there. They stop well short of the answer. Open only as many as you need.
Hint 1: Where to start
There is a one-cell region toward the top left, at row 1, column 3. A region must hold a crown, so that one is free — place it and cross out its row, its column and the ring of cells around it.
Hint 2: The next thing to notice (after about 5 moves)
The 17-cell region in the top-right corner (rows 1–5, columns 4–9) has all of its open cells in column 5. That column's crown therefore belongs to this region, and every other cell in column 5 can be crossed out — 2 cells in one go.
Hint 3: The step that unlocks the rest (after about 7 moves)
Check row 8: every cell still open in it belongs to the 19-cell region on the bottom edge (rows 5–9, columns 1–7). So that region's crown must sit in row 8, and the rest of the region — 2 cells outside that row — can be crossed out.
Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left, starting at 1. Still stuck after that? The Hint button under the board checks your crowns and places the next correct one, and the strategy guide explains each technique named above.
Compared with the day before
Yesterday's board (Thursday, August 20) was also a 9×9, so any difference you feel comes from the regions, not the size. It also asks for more: yesterday's hardest step was a chain reaction of forced crowns, while today needs line ownership (a region that fits inside one row or column). The opening is stingier: 5 forced crowns before the first real technique, against 9 yesterday.
More dailies
Archive replays are for fun and practice: they never affect your streak, which only today's board can extend. For boards nobody has seen before, there is unlimited mode.