Stars never touch, not even at a corner, so every square around a star is empty. All eight of them. Cross them out the moment you place a star.
This is the first of the Star Battle techniques. Each page shows its technique on the same two-star 8×8 from the game, Hard level 34.
The rule
- Place a star.
- Cross out the squares beside it, above and below it, and at its four corners.
In a real puzzle
On the 8×8 every technique page follows, it’s first needed at step 20, right after row 8 gets its two stars. The square touching the star in row 8, column 5 at its top-left corner is crossed out.
How often you’ll need it
On every one of the game’s 150 levels: 4.0 times per Easy level on average, 5.3 on Medium and 10.9 on Hard. It’s 10 of the 44 moves on the 8×8 here.