Inkwell Games · Stars

Inkwell Stars solution — January 18, 2026

Stuck on today's Inkwell Games Stars puzzle? Here's the complete step-by-step solution to the 10×10 grid for January 18, 2026 — every star placed with pure logic, one deduction at a time, no guessing. Step through it below.

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Solve walkthrough Step 1 of 87

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. Joint analysis (Region 7 + Region 9): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 9, column 5).
  3. Clump analysis (Region 10): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 9, column 9).
  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 7).
  5. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 8).
  6. Clump analysis (Region 6): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 4, column 6).
  7. Triple analysis (Region 8 + Region 5 + Region 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 2, column 6).
  8. Triple analysis (Region 8 + Region 5 + Region 7): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 3, column 3).
  9. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - columns 1-2 must hold 4 stars but the regions there could only supply 3 (row 1, column 3).
  10. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Region 7 would only have room for 1 of the 2 stars it still needs (row 3, column 8).
  11. Deep 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 6, column 4).
  12. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - Column 8 would only have room for 0 of the 1 star it still needs (row 7, column 9).
  13. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 9 can only hold 2 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 3 (row 8, column 3).
  14. 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 3).
  15. Triple analysis (Region 9 + Region 10 + Row 10): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 10, column 1).
  16. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 2 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 8, column 9).
  17. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 1 can only hold 2 stars but the regions there would be forced to place 3 (row 9, column 1).
  18. Clump analysis (Column 1): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 1, column 2).
  19. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - row 1 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 3, column 10).
  20. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 2 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 8, column 4).
  21. Triple analysis (Region 7 + Region 8 + Row 7): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 5, column 6).
  22. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Region 8 + Region 6): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 4).
  23. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Region 6 + Row 3): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 3, column 2).
  24. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - stars at R9C8 and R10C8 would touch (row 2, column 3).
  25. Squeeze (columns 3-4): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 2, column 5).
  26. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Region 6 + Row 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 7).
  27. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Region 6 + Region 8): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 2, column 7).
  28. Deep lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 10 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 1, column 9).
  29. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 9 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 9, column 10).
  30. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 9 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 10, column 10).
  31. Joint analysis (Region 9 + Row 9): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 10, column 7).
  32. Joint analysis (Region 10 + Region 8): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 8, column 6).
  33. Clump analysis (Region 7): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 2).
  34. Triple analysis (Region 5 + Region 7 + Column 5): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 4, column 5).
  35. Clump analysis (Region 6): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 5, column 7).
  36. Clump analysis (Region 8): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 6, column 5).
  37. Crowding (Region 4): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 7, column 10).
  38. Joint analysis (Region 4 + Column 10): every legal combination of their stars includes these cells (row 8, column 10).
  39. Lookahead: Placing star here leads to contradiction - column 9 must hold 2 stars but the regions there could only supply 1 (row 10, column 4).
  40. Joint analysis (Region 10 + Row 10): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 9, column 8).
  41. Joint analysis (Region 7 + Column 4): every legal combination of their stars rules these cells out (row 6, column 3).
  42. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must have star (row 3, column 4).
  43. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 4).
  44. Clump analysis (Region 6): candidate clumps can only just supply the remaining stars (row 3, column 1).
  45. Crowding (Column 3): a star here would leave too little room for its 2 remaining stars (row 8, column 2).
  46. Squeeze (rows 1-2): the band's clumps can only just fit its stars (row 4, column 10).
  47. Two last candidates (column 10): Eliminate 1 cell adjacent to both (row 2, column 9).
  48. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 6, column 9).
  49. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 5, column 8).
  50. Column completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 10, column 9).
  51. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 8).
  52. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must have star (row 4, column 8).
  53. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 3, column 7).
  54. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 3, column 6).
  55. Blocking rule: This position would block too many candidates (row 6, column 6).
  56. Blocking rule: This position would block too many candidates (row 7, column 6).
  57. Three candidates with two adjacent: Isolated candidate must have star (row 7, column 5).
  58. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 7, column 4).
  59. Region completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 5, column 3).
  60. Mark 3 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 4, column 2).
  61. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 5, column 5).
  62. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 7, column 3).
  63. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 7, column 2).
  64. Row completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 4, column 1).
  65. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 5, column 1).
  66. Row 7 complete: Mark 2 remaining cells as X (row 7, column 1).
  67. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 6, column 7).
  68. Row 6 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 6, column 1).
  69. Column 3 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 9, column 3).
  70. Column completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 9, column 4).
  71. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 10, column 5).
  72. Column 5 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 1, column 5).
  73. Clump analysis (Column 2): each clump must supply its full share of stars (row 2, column 2).
  74. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 1).
  75. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 8, column 1).
  76. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 9, column 2).
  77. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 2, column 8).
  78. Mark 2 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 1, column 7).
  79. Row completion: 2 stars needed, 2 candidates (row 1, column 6).
  80. Row completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 1, column 10).
  81. Mark 1 cells adjacent to stars as X (row 2, column 10).
  82. Row 8 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 8, column 8).
  83. Column completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 10, column 2).
  84. Region complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 10, column 6).
  85. Column 6 complete: Mark 1 remaining cells as X (row 9, column 6).
  86. Region completion: 1 stars needed, 1 candidates (row 9, column 7).
  87. Solved! Every row, column, and region has its two stars, none touching.

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This is an independent, logic-based walkthrough created by TryHard Puzzles to teach Star Battle solving technique. TryHard Puzzles is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Inkwell Games.