Archive ยท Puzzle #3
Tango puzzle for Tuesday, July 7, 2026
Tango #3 in numbers
Puzzle #3 starts with 5 given cells, 1 equals sign and 4 cross signs, leaving 31 cells to deduce. Our solver fills them in 31 forced steps without a single guess: 18 from the no-three-in-a-row rule, 8 from a row or column that already had its three, 4 from an ร sign, 1 from an = sign. Every step uses the three basic rules, so this is a board you can finish without ever having to list possibilities.
Spoilers: the solved board and how the first steps are forced
โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐ โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐๐โ๏ธ๐ ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ ๐๐โ๏ธโ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐ ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ๐โ๏ธ
- row 4, column 4 is a sun: The = sign means these two cells must match.
- row 6, column 4 is a sun: The ร sign means these two cells must differ.
- row 5, column 3 is a sun: The ร sign means these two cells must differ.
- row 4, column 2 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 4, column 5 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 4, column 6 is a sun: The ร sign means these two cells must differ.
- row 3, column 3 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 3, column 4 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 2, column 4 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 5, column 4 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 2, column 5 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
- row 5, column 5 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
The remaining 19 cells follow the same way; the hint button in the puzzle above walks through every one of them with its reason.
Rows and columns are counted from the top-left. Every daily Tango Unlimited board is generated to have exactly one solution and to be solvable by deduction alone; the how-to-play page explains each technique.