Expert Star Battle answer — August 16, 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. Blocking rule: This position would block too many candidates (row 7, column 2).
3. Clump analysis (Region 2): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 2).
4. Clump analysis (Region 9): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 3, column 9).
5. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Region 7 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 4, column 2).
6. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Row 6 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 4, column 4).
7. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - rows 1-5 must hold 10 stars but the regions there could only supply 9 (row 4, column 9).
8. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 7 can only hold 2 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 3 (row 3, column 4).
9. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Region 1 would end up with more than 2 stars (row 5, column 1).
10. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Row 10 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 5, column 2).
11. Composite container (rows 1-5): Regions 3, 4 and 5 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 4 of the band's 10 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 4, column 7).
12. Clump analysis (Region 4): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 2, column 7).
13. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - stars at R8C9 and R9C9 would touch (row 1, column 8).
14. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Region 7 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 2, column 8).
15. Clump analysis (Region 4): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 4, column 8).
16. Clump analysis (Region 9): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 9).
17. Generalized counting (rows 1-4): region star limits exclude these cells (row 5, column 5).
18. Generalized counting (columns 10-10): region star limits exclude these cells (row 1, column 10).
19. Generalized counting (columns 9-10): region star limits exclude these cells (row 7, column 9).
20. Composite container (rows 1-4): Regions 3, 4 and 5 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 3, column 2).
21. Crowding (Row 5): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 6, column 7).
22. Clump analysis (Region 7): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 7, column 5).
23. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 8, column 7).
24. Crowding (Column 2): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 9, column 1).
25. Composite container (rows 1-4): Regions 3, 4 and 5 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 2 of the band's 8 stars - impossible without stars on these cells (row 4, column 3).
26. Composite container (rows 5-6): Region 1 is confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 3 of the band's 4 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 5, column 9).
27. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must hold a star (row 6, column 1).
28. Clump analysis (Column 9): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 8, column 8).
29. Generalized counting (columns 8-8): region star limits exclude these cells (row 3, column 8).
30. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must hold a star (row 3, column 7).
31. Mark 3 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 6).
32. Composite container (columns 1-7): Regions 1, 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 1 of the band's 14 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 10, column 6).
33. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - columns 6-8 can only hold 6 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 7 (row 5, column 6).
34. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 5, column 8).
35. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 6, column 8).
36. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 5, column 10).
37. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 4, column 10).
38. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 3, column 10).
39. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 9).
40. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 1, column 9).
41. Row 3 complete: Mark 2 remaining cells as X (row 3, column 1).
42. Column 10 complete: Mark 2 remaining cells as X (row 7, column 10).
43. Clump analysis (Row 2): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 1, column 2).
44. Squeeze (rows 9-10): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 8, column 1).
45. Generalized counting (columns 1-1): region star limits exclude these cells (row 10, column 1).
46. Generalized counting (columns 1-3): region star limits exclude these cells (row 6, column 3).
47. Composite container (rows 8-10): Regions 6 and 10 are confined here, so the leftover cells owe exactly 3 of the band's 6 stars - a star on these cells would crowd them out (row 7, column 3).
48. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 8, column 2).
49. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 2).
50. Three candidates in a row: Middle cell can't hold a star (row 7, column 7).
51. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 7, column 6).
52. Mark 4 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 6, column 5).
53. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 6, column 4).
54. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 8, column 4).
55. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 7, column 8).
56. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 8, column 9).
57. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 9, column 9).
58. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 8).
59. Column 4 complete: Mark 2 remaining cells as X (row 2, column 4).
60. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must hold a star (row 10, column 5).
61. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 6).
62. Row completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 9, column 7).
63. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 7).
64. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 1, column 6).
65. Mark 3 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 5).
66. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 4, column 5).
67. Row 1 complete: Mark 2 remaining cells as X (row 1, column 1).
68. Row 4 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 4, column 1).
69. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 2, column 1).
70. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 2).
71. Region completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 2, column 3).
72. Column completion: 1 star needed, 1 candidate (row 10, column 2).
73. Mark 1 cell adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 3).
74. Solved! Every row, column, and region has its two stars, none touching.