Meowdoku Level 42 Walkthrough: Thirteen Crosses for One Cat

The Meowdoku Level 42 board layout

Eight colors divide this grid: rose, apricot, butter, matcha, mint, soda, periwinkle, and lilac. The smallest of them is rose, a lone tile in the top left corner at row 1, column 1. Apricot and mint are tied for second smallest with three tiles each, apricot sitting near the top right and mint tucked in the middle of the grid.

Lilac dominates everything else with 20 tiles covering the bottom left quarter, which is more than a quarter of this 8x8 board. Matcha holds 12 tiles across the upper middle and right, periwinkle has 11 tiles in the lower middle and right, butter has 9 tiles in a hook shape near the top left, and soda has 5 tiles down the right edge.

Because lilac is so enormous, it is almost impossible to pin down early, and sure enough it is the last cat you place in this cat puzzle game. The action instead centres on butter, matcha, and mint, all crowded into the same few rows and columns near the top left.

The opening move and the second free cat

Open Meowdoku Level 42 on row 1, column 1. Rose is a one-tile region, so the rose cat belongs in that corner and nowhere else. This is technique T1, the last open tile in a color, and it is the standard way these cat games hand you a starting point.

The rose cat clears row 1, column 1, and the tiles beside it, which leaves apricot with a single open tile at row 2, column 6. Settle the second cat there and the top two rows are done. What follows is the part of Level 42 that earns its medium rating, so take a breath before you continue.

The key moment: butter takes column 3, then rows 3 and 4 lock up

Here is where Meowdoku Level 42 asks you to slow down and work. Start by noticing that every open butter tile now sits in column 3. Butter needs a cat somewhere, so column 3 is butter’s column, and that is technique T3, a color locked to one line. Cross out the lilac tiles at row 5, column 3, row 6, column 3, row 7, column 3, and row 8, column 3, since none of them can hold a cat any more.

Next come the neighbor crosses, technique T4, where a tile touches every open tile of a color. The tiles at row 3, column 2, row 3, column 4, row 4, column 2, and row 4, column 4 all touch every remaining butter option, so all four are crossed out. The tile at row 4, column 8 touches every open matcha tile, the tile at row 5, column 5 touches every open mint tile, and the tile at row 6, column 7 touches every open soda tile, which adds three more crosses on three different colors.

The finishing idea is technique T5, matched colors and lines. Butter and matcha can now only place their cats in rows 3 and 4. Two colors filling two rows means both rows are already committed, so anything else in them has to go, and that removes the mint tile at row 4, column 5. Mint is down to one open tile at row 5, column 4, and after thirteen crosses the third cat finally lands. Butter follows at row 3, column 3, matcha at row 4, column 7, and once the soda column is tidied up, periwinkle takes row 7, column 5, soda takes row 6, column 8, and lilac closes the board at row 8, column 2.

Tips for boards with long cross chains

Level 42 is the first board in this stretch where a single cat needs more than a dozen crosses, and it will not be the last. The trick is to treat crosses as progress rather than as busywork. Each one is a proven fact about the board, and in these brain games proven facts are the only currency.

These habits keep a long chain from falling apart.

• Work one color at a time: finish every cross that butter gives you before moving to matcha.
• Mark each cross with a single tap the moment you prove it, so you never have to re-derive it.
• Look for a color squeezed into one column even when that column is long; the crosses it creates can be far away.
• When two small colors fill exactly two lines, clear every other color out of both lines at once.
• Leave the largest region alone until the end; on Level 42 lilac solves itself with the final move.
• If a chain gets away from you, a hint shows the next forced cat so you can rebuild your reasoning from there.

Why Meowdoku suits players who like a puzzle with teeth

A board like Meowdoku Level 42 shows what separates good puzzle games from tedious ones. Nothing here is ambiguous and nothing is random. The thirteen crosses are all deductions you can make yourself, which means the satisfaction of the mint cat landing belongs entirely to you.

It also helps that the whole thing is free and lives in a browser tab. Meowdoku sits in the same family as other sudoku-style puzzles and animal games, but the cats, the fish counter, and the single-tap cross marker make it feel gentler than its logic actually is.

What is the solution to Meowdoku Level 42?

In solve order, the cats go on row 1, column 1 (rose); row 2, column 6 (apricot); row 5, column 4 (mint); row 3, column 3 (butter); row 4, column 7 (matcha); row 7, column 5 (periwinkle); row 6, column 8 (soda); and row 8, column 2 (lilac).

Where do I place the first cat in Meowdoku Level 42?

Put the first cat on row 1, column 1. Rose is a single-tile region in that corner, so the rose cat has only one possible home.

How do I find the mint cat in Meowdoku Level 42?

Butter is confined to column 3, so cross out the lilac tiles at row 5, column 3, row 6, column 3, row 7, column 3, and row 8, column 3. Then cross out row 3, column 2, row 3, column 4, row 4, column 2, and row 4, column 4 as butter neighbors, row 4, column 8 as a matcha neighbor, row 5, column 5 as a mint neighbor, and row 6, column 7 as a soda neighbor. Butter and matcha are now stuck in rows 3 and 4, which removes the mint tile at row 4, column 5 and leaves mint with one open tile at row 5, column 4.

Why does Meowdoku Level 42 feel harder than its medium rating?

Because all the difficulty is concentrated in one move. The third cat needs thirteen crosses, including seven neighbor eliminations and one use of technique T5 where butter and matcha reserve rows 3 and 4. Once that cat lands the remaining five come quickly.

Is Meowdoku Level 42 free to play online?

Yes. Meowdoku is a free cat puzzle game that works in any modern browser, so Level 42 is available whenever you want a session of cat games without installing anything.