Inkwell Stars solution — December 6, 2025

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