Skyscrapers

Place buildings so the visibility clues match from every direction. A Latin-square logic puzzle.

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The rules

How to play

  1. 01

    The grid

    Fill the N×N grid with numbers 1 to N — a 4×4 puzzle uses the heights 1 through 4. Each number is a building of that height.

  2. 02

    Rows

    Every row must contain each number from 1 to N exactly once. No height repeats along a row.

  3. 03

    Columns

    The same rule holds vertically: each column holds every height exactly once, top to bottom.

  4. 04

    Edge clues

    The numbers around the border tell you how many skyscrapers are visible looking in from that direction.

  5. 05

    Visibility

    A taller skyscraper hides every shorter one behind it. The clues count only the buildings you could actually see.

Play smarter

Six habits of sharp solvers

Edge clues of N

A clue equal to the grid size forces a strict climb — 1, 2, 3, 4. Only one arrangement makes every building visible.

Edge clues of 1

A clue of 1 means the tallest building stands right against that edge, blocking the whole row or column behind it.

Read both ends

Look at the clues on opposite sides of a row or column together. Paired clues sharply narrow the possible orders.

Start with extremes

Clues of 1 and N are the most restrictive on the board. Find where the tallest building must sit first.

Latin-square logic

Just like Sudoku, no height repeats in a row or column. Use elimination to whittle each cell down to one option.

Work both directions

Once a height is fixed, re-check how it changes visibility from both ends of its row and its column.

Watch & learn

Two minutes to mastery