Expert Star Battle answer — June 20, 2026

Full written solution

Every deduction from the walkthrough above, in order. Each technique is explained in the Star Battle strategy guide.

1. Starting position — the grid is split into regions (bold outlines). Each row, column, and region needs exactly two stars, and no two stars may touch.
2. Clump analysis (Region 5): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 8).
3. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 8, column 4).
4. Blocking rule: a star here would touch every other open cell in its region, leaving no room for the region's second star (row 8, column 6).
5. Triple analysis (Region 7 + Region 8 + Row 8): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 9, column 2).
6. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Column 7 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 3, column 7).
7. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - rows 8-9 can only hold 4 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 5 (row 4, column 8).
8. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Column 8 + Region 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 8, column 9).
9. Joint analysis (Row 8 + Region 7): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 9, column 4).
10. Blocking rule: a star here would touch every other open cell in its region, leaving no room for the region's second star (row 8, column 2).
11. Triple analysis (Region 7 + Column 8 + Region 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 6, column 7).
12. Quad analysis (Row 8 + Column 2 + Region 6 + Column 3): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 7, column 6).
13. Crowding (Region 4): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 5, column 7).
14. Quad analysis (Region 9 + Column 4 + Row 3 + Row 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 2, column 5).
15. Composite container (rows 1-2): Region 1 is confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 2 of the band's 4 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 1, column 7).
16. Joint analysis (Column 7 + Column 8): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 8, column 7).
17. Crowding (Row 8): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 7, column 2).
18. Joint analysis (Column 2 + Region 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 3).
19. Joint analysis (Column 7 + Region 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 3, column 8).
20. Quad analysis (Region 4 + Region 6 + Row 6 + Row 5): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 6, column 2).
21. Clump analysis (Column 2): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 2, column 1).
22. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 3 can only hold 2 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 3 (row 5, column 3).
23. Clump analysis (Region 9): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 3, column 2).
24. Clump analysis (Column 2): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 1, column 1).
25. Generalized counting (rows 1-1): region star limits exclude these cells (row 2, column 4).
26. Squeeze (rows 2-3): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 4, column 4).
27. Joint analysis (Region 4 + Row 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 5, column 6).
28. Squeeze (rows 4-5): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 3, column 6).
29. Joint analysis (Row 2 + Row 3): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 1, column 6).
30. Joint analysis (Row 5 + Row 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 6, column 5).
31. Joint analysis (Column 4 + Region 2): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 3, column 5).
32. Joint analysis (Region 9 + Row 5): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 9).
33. Joint analysis (Row 4 + Region 3): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 5, column 4).
34. Squeeze (rows 4-5): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 4, column 6).
35. Squeeze (rows 4-5): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 4, column 7).
36. Squeeze (rows 5-6): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 7, column 3).
37. Squeeze (columns 3-4): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 1, column 4).
38. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 5).
39. Squeeze (columns 5-6): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 2, column 6).
40. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 7).
41. Squeeze (columns 7-8): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 1, column 9).
42. Generalized counting (columns 1-1): region star limits exclude these cells (row 3, column 1).
43. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must hold a star (row 2, column 2).
44. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 2).
45. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 1, column 8).
46. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 8).
47. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 5, column 5).
48. Mark 3 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 4, column 5).
49. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 3, column 9).
50. Region completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 3, column 4).
51. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 4, column 2).
52. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 5, column 2).
53. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 6, column 3).
54. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 6, column 1).
55. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 7, column 1).
56. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 7, column 5).
57. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 8, column 5).
58. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 8, column 1).
59. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 1).
60. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 8, column 3).
61. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 3).
62. Column 5 complete: Mark 1 remaining cell as X (row 9, column 5).
63. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 9, column 6).
64. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 7).
65. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 7, column 7).
66. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 7, column 8).
67. Row 7 complete: Mark 1 remaining cell as X (row 7, column 9).
68. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 9, column 8).
69. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 9).
70. Solved! Every row, column, and region has its two stars, none touching.