LinkedIn Queens: the rules, the four deductions that solve any board, and today's solution

The four deductions

Every Queens board is solved by some combination of four moves. In rough order of how often they apply:

1. The single-line region. If a region fits entirely inside one row (or one column), its crown must be in that row — so no *other* region can have a crown in that row. Cross out every cell of that row outside the region.

2. The forced cell. After eliminations, a region with one remaining cell gets its crown there. Then eliminate that crown's row, column, and the eight surrounding cells.

3. The N-regions-in-N-lines squeeze. If two regions between them occupy only two rows, those two rows are spoken for: every other region's cells in those rows are eliminated. This scales to three regions in three rows and is the move that unlocks mid-difficulty boards.

4. The pair elimination. If a region's remaining cells are two adjacent cells, a crown in *either* of them touches the same neighbouring cells — so those neighbours can be crossed out even before you know which of the two is right.

Guessing is never required. If you find yourself guessing, one of the four moves is available and you haven't seen it yet.

A solving order that works

Start with the smallest regions — one-, two- and three-cell regions are usually forced or nearly so. Place their crowns, run the eliminations, and the board shrinks. Then look for single-line regions and the N-in-N squeeze among what remains. Save the largest, sprawling region for last: it is almost always resolved by elimination once the others are placed.

Mark eliminations as you go. The in-game X marks are not decoration; a board with every impossible cell crossed out solves itself, and a board without them hides the forced cells.

A worked board, deduction by deduction

Take a 7×7 with seven regions. Region A is a single cell in the top-right corner. Region B is a 1×3 strip along the bottom row. The rest are irregular blobs. Here is the solve in the order the deductions become available.

Move 1 — forced cell. Region A has one cell, so its crown is there: row 1, column 7. Eliminate row 1, column 7, and the three cells around it (row 2, columns 6–7).

Move 2 — single-line region. Region B sits entirely in row 7, so row 7's crown is in B. Cross out every row-7 cell outside B. That also means the regions touching row 7 must place their crowns in rows 1–6.

Move 3 — the squeeze. Regions C and D between them occupy only rows 2 and 3. Their two crowns take those two rows; every other region's cells in rows 2–3 are eliminated. Suddenly region E, which had cells in rows 2–5, is confined to rows 4–5, and its cells in row 4 are adjacent to a cell already eliminated by diagonal… and so on.

Move 4 — pair elimination. Region F's survivors are two adjacent cells in row 5. Whichever gets the crown, the cells diagonally above and below both of them are out. That eliminates the last candidate for region G in row 4 except one — forced.

The rest is bookkeeping: each placement eliminates, each elimination forces. Seven crowns, no guesses, under two minutes once the moves are habit. The answer page for each day shows the board so you can trace the same sequence on the real thing.

Board shapes you'll recognise

The Queens editors reuse a handful of constructions, and recognising them saves time.

The no-touching rule is the whole game

Without the diagonal rule, Queens would be an ordinary N-queens puzzle with a colouring twist. With it, every placed crown eliminates up to eight neighbours, and that is what makes small regions so powerful: a two-cell region in a corner kills five or six cells with its crown. Players who think of the diagonal rule as a constraint on where crowns *can't* go are playing it backwards — it's the main tool for deciding where the *other* crowns must go.

Board sizes and what they demand

LinkedIn varies the grid through the week. Bigger isn't always harder — a 10×10 with five tiny regions is easier than a 8×8 with eight sprawling ones — but size sets the ceiling.

Four mistakes that add minutes

Recorded from watching people solve over my shoulder — and from my own early boards.

• Placing before eliminating. A crown placed without crossing out its row, column and neighbours leaves the board looking more open than it is. Eliminate first, always.
• Starting with the big region. It has the most options and the least information. It resolves itself last.
• Forgetting the squeeze. Two regions confined to two rows is the most common mid-board deduction and the most often missed. Scan for it whenever you stall.
• Guessing on a 50/50. A region down to two cells never needs a guess: the pair elimination or a neighbouring region will decide it. Look for the deciding constraint.

Timing, streaks and the leaderboard

Queens is timed from the first tap, and LinkedIn shows your time to connections who also play. The board size varies by day; a Sunday 11×11 will legitimately take longer than a Tuesday 8×8, so compare times only against the same board. Streaks count days played, not days solved quickly, and a streak freeze is available once a week if you miss.

The game's official help page describes the rules and the crown/X marking controls; it says nothing about strategy, which is why this page exists.

Queens since launch

Queens is the game LinkedIn built its Games hub around, and it has changed the least. The rules are identical to launch. What changed: board sizes crept up (8×8 was the launch standard; 9×9 and 10×10 are now routine), the X-marking control was added early after players asked for pencil marks, and a 'clear' button was added later. The community tutorial video LinkedIn links from the hint button dates from the first year and still describes the game accurately.

Why Queens is the game people get competitive about

Among the LinkedIn games, Queens produces the most shared results and the most leaderboard chatter, and the reason is structural: its time is a pure measure of deduction speed, uncontaminated by trivia knowledge or typing speed. A colleague who posts 0:41 on a board you took 3:10 on has simply seen the squeeze faster. That is motivating in a way Pinpoint's clue count isn't, and it's why the four moves above are worth practising until they're automatic.

Region shapes and how often they decide the board

From boards logged here; the 'decides' column is the share of boards where that shape provided the first forced crown.

Reader questions

"Can crowns touch on the diagonal if they're in different regions?" No — the no-touching rule applies regardless of region.

"Does the board size follow a schedule?" Roughly: smaller midweek, larger at weekends, but not strictly.

"Is the hint button a penalty?" No score penalty; it places an X or a crown for you and is recorded on the results card.

Glossary

Terms as used on this site.

• Region — a coloured area; exactly one crown.
• Single-line region — a region contained in one row or column.
• Squeeze — N regions confined to N lines, which claim those lines.
• Pair elimination — two adjacent candidate cells eliminating their shared neighbours.
• X mark — the in-game elimination note; not mechanically required, always useful.

A weekly rhythm

Monday to Thursday boards are 8×8 or 9×9 with a couple of small regions that open them immediately. Friday brings a 9×9 or 10×10 with fewer small regions. Saturday and Sunday are the big boards — 10×10 and 11×11 — where the squeeze is essential and a snake region wraps the board. If you're learning, play weekdays for the moves and weekends for the practice.

The hint button, and when to use it

The Hint places one X or one crown for you — always a forced one — and records that you used it. It's a teaching tool more than a cheat: when a board has stalled and you take the hint, look at *which* cell it chose and ask which of the four deductions produced it. Nine times in ten it's the squeeze, and seeing it once on a real board is worth more than reading about it. Players trying to lower their time should never use it; players trying to learn should use it freely for a week and then stop.

Frequently asked questions