Comment by bognition

I’ve noticed that many of the hard boards have a “choke point” in the solution where there are a small number of places you can place a specific queen but the information needed to place it can be difficult to gather.

A hacky trick is to place a queen and then ask for a hint. If deployed well, you can use this short circuit the challenge and often solve the puzzle in a fraction of the time.

There isn’t any penalty for taking a hint beyond you’re locked out of your next hint for a period of time.