How to solve this 8×8 logic puzzle

8×8 · gentle · 8 steps

This 8×8 board rates as gentle (difficulty score 318). Solving it from scratch takes 18 logical steps, using 3 techniques: Single cell, Row/column exclusion, Adjacency clear. Every step below is forced — nothing here is a guess.

1. First, place a marker at row 2, column 7. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 2, column 7, and its region. Placing here also clears its 4 touching neighbours.
2. Next, place a marker at row 1, column 5. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 1, column 5, and its region.
3. Then, place a marker at row 3, column 3. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 3, column 3, and its region. Placing here also clears its 2 touching neighbours.
4. After that, place a marker at row 6, column 6. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 6, column 6, and its region.
5. Now, place a marker at row 8, column 4. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 8, column 4, and its region.
6. From there, place a marker at row 4, column 1. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 4, column 1, and its region. Placing here also clears its 1 touching neighbour.
7. Following that, place a marker at row 7, column 2. Region has exactly one open cell left. Placing here clears the rest of row 7, column 2, and its region.
8. Finally, place a marker at row 5, column 8. Region has exactly one open cell left.

This was a gentle solve — every step followed directly from placing a marker and clearing its row, column and region. ∎