TANGO UNLIMITED

Archive · Puzzle #5

Tango puzzle for Thursday, July 9, 2026

The same board everyone played on 2026-07-09. Replays don't affect your streak.

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Balanced. ☀️🌙

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Tango #5 in numbers

Puzzle #5 starts with 5 given cells, 2 equals signs and 4 cross signs, leaving 31 cells to deduce. Our solver fills them in 31 forced steps without a single guess: 13 from a row or column that already had its three, 12 from the no-three-in-a-row rule, 4 from an × sign, 2 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 
🌙🌙☀️🌙☀️☀️
🌙🌙☀️☀️🌙☀️
☀️☀️🌙☀️🌙🌙
🌙🌙☀️🌙☀️☀️
☀️☀️🌙🌙☀️🌙
☀️☀️🌙☀️🌙🌙
  1. row 2, column 2 is a moon: The = sign means these two cells must match.
  2. row 1, column 3 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  3. row 1, column 4 is a moon: The × sign means these two cells must differ.
  4. row 2, column 3 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  5. row 3, column 1 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  6. row 3, column 2 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  7. row 3, column 3 is a moon: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  8. row 3, column 4 is a sun: The × sign means these two cells must differ.
  9. row 4, column 3 is a sun: No three of the same can be adjacent, so this cell is forced.
  10. row 4, column 2 is a moon: The × sign means these two cells must differ.
  11. row 1, column 5 is a sun: This row already has three moons, so the rest are suns.
  12. row 2, column 5 is a moon: The × sign means these two cells must differ.

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.