Try every fit

Intermediate technique

What do you do when a region has more open tiles than stars?

List every way its remaining stars could go in without touching. A tile that holds a star in every arrangement is a star. A tile that is used in none can be ruled out.

Try every way of fitting the remaining stars into the violet region without two touching. The outlined tile has a star in every one of them, so it is certain.

You rarely need to write the arrangements down. A region shaped like a short line of three tiles needing two stars has only one arrangement, the two ends. An L-shaped region of four needing two has two or three. Look for tiles that every arrangement shares.

Try it on a board

Stuck? Hint names the next step in words.

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