Expert Star Battle answer — August 11, 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 7): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 9, column 6).
3. Clump analysis (Region 9): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 4, column 8).
4. Clump analysis (Region 10): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 2, column 2).
5. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 2, column 4).
6. Composite container (rows 4-10): Regions 1, 2, 5, 6 and 7 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 4 of the band's 14 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 5, column 2).
7. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - rows 1-4 can only hold 8 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 9 (row 4, column 6).
8. Triple analysis (Region 8 + Region 3 + Row 1): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 2).
9. Triple analysis (Region 10 + Region 8 + Region 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 10, column 1).
10. Triple analysis (Region 10 + Region 6 + Column 1): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 7, column 3).
11. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Region 6 would only have room for 1 of the 2 stars it still needs (row 3, column 4).
12. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 3).
13. Composite container (columns 4-10): Regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 2 of the band's 14 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 9, column 5).
14. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - rows 1-5 can only hold 10 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 11 (row 3, column 7).
15. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - row 6 can only hold 2 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 3 (row 5, column 1).
16. Triple analysis (Region 8 + Column 2 + Region 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 7, column 2).
17. Composite container (rows 7-10): Regions 1, 5 and 7 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 2 of the band's 8 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 6, column 9).
18. Generalized counting (rows 1-5): region star limits exclude these cells (row 4, column 5).
19. Squeeze (rows 4-5): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 4, column 1).
20. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 3, column 1).
21. Composite container (columns 1-6): Regions 1, 6, 8 and 10 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 4 of the band's 12 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 2, column 5).
22. Joint analysis (Row 5 + Region 2): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 6, column 4).
23. Generalized counting (columns 1-2): region star limits exclude these cells (row 10, column 2).
24. Squeeze (rows 9-10): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 10, column 5).
25. Clump analysis (Region 7): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 8, column 6).
26. Clump analysis (Region 7): each clump must supply its full share of stars (row 10, column 6).
27. Squeeze (rows 8-9): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 9, column 10).
28. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 10).
29. Squeeze (columns 2-3): each clump in the band must supply its full share of stars (row 8, column 2).
30. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 8, column 1).
31. Joint analysis (Column 10 + Region 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 3, column 8).
32. Squeeze (columns 8-9): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 3, column 10).
33. Generalized counting (columns 6-7): region star limits exclude these cells (row 6, column 6).
34. Squeeze (columns 4-6): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 7, column 5).
35. Triple analysis (Column 6 + Column 5 + Row 7): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 8, column 7).
36. Two last candidates (row 8): Eliminate 2 cells adjacent to both (row 7, column 4).
37. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 9, column 8).
38. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 8).
39. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 10, column 4).
40. Triple analysis (Column 8 + Row 5 + Column 9): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 2, column 9).
41. Triple analysis (Region 9 + Region 4 + Region 3): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 7, column 10).
42. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must hold a star (row 6, column 5).
43. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 7, column 6).
44. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 7, column 7).
45. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 6, column 8).
46. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 7, column 9).
47. Two last candidates (column 6): Eliminate 2 cells adjacent to both (row 2, column 7).
48. Two last candidates (column 8): Eliminate 1 cell adjacent to both (row 1, column 9).
49. Region confined to row: Eliminate other row candidates (row 1, column 1).
50. Region confined to row: Eliminate other row candidates (row 1, column 2).
51. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 2, column 1).
52. Column 1 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 6, column 1).
53. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 6, column 2).
54. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 5, column 3).
55. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 5, column 7).
56. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 4, column 7).
57. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 5, column 10).
58. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 4, column 9).
59. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 4, column 3).
60. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 3, column 3).
61. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 3, column 6).
62. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 6).
63. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 3, column 9).
64. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 8).
65. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 2, column 3).
66. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 3).
67. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 8, column 4).
68. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 8, column 5).
69. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 1, column 5).
70. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 1, column 8).
71. Region complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 1, column 10).
72. Solved! Every row, column, and region has its two stars, none touching.