Answers · Puzzle #181 · Sunday 8 November 2026
Deckard sat in 421 wrong guesses on a tough Sunday
Answers and explanations for Stargrid #181, with the four groups, the tiles that misled players, and one odd Blade Runner pairing.
Deckard turned up in 421 of the 895 wrong guesses, the most of any tile. Of the 161 players who finished Stargrid #181, 141 solved the board, a solve rate of 88%. That is lower than the previous puzzle, which had a 95.0% solve rate. Twenty players ran out of guesses, and 25 finished with no mistakes.
The answer board
Each puzzle has one group per colour. Yellow is the most direct connection and purple the most abstract.
The four groups
Companions of the Doctor
- River Song
- Rose Tyler
- Amy Pond
- Donna
The easiest group of the day was people who travelled with the Doctor. River Song, Rose Tyler, Amy Pond and Donna all ride in the TARDIS at some point.
Rose is the shop girl who meets the Doctor among living shop dummies, and Donna is the loud temp from Chiswick who stumbles aboard. Most players started here.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
- Ripley
- Bishop
- Hudson
- Dallas
These four come from the Alien films: Ripley, Bishop, Hudson and Dallas. Dallas is the Nostromo's captain, who goes into the air shafts after the creature and vanishes. Hudson is the Colonial Marine famous for "Game over, man!"
Bishop pilots the dropship down to LV-426, and Ripley is the warrant officer who survives. Only the Alien link was needed, but Bishop and Ripley both had other homes in the grid.
On the Case
- Fox Mulder
- Deckard
- RoboCop
- Batman
Each of these is an investigator or a hunter of fugitives. Fox Mulder is the FBI agent chasing unexplained cases after his sister's abduction, and Deckard is the retired blade runner tracking replicants through rainy Los Angeles.
RoboCop is a Detroit officer rebuilt as a cyborg, and Batman is Gotham's masked vigilante, known as the World's Greatest Detective. Badge, mask or machine, the job is the same. This was the hardest group.
Frozen in Time
- Han Solo
- Khan
- George Taylor
- Dr. Mann
Frozen in suspended animation, then left for a long time: that is the link. Han Solo is frozen in carbonite by Darth Vader and handed to Jabba the Hutt. Khan spent centuries in cryosleep aboard the Botany Bay.
George Taylor and his crew sleep through a long space journey to an unknown planet. Dr. Mann waits in cryosleep on his icy planet, hoping someone will come for him. Few players began here, and most left it for last.
Wrong guesses per group solved
Each wrong guess counts against the group it came closest to, divided by how many times that group was solved. Higher means harder.
Dashed line: one wrong guess per group solved.
View data as a table
| Group | Wrong guesses nearest | Times solved | Per solve | One tile away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| On the Case | 360 | 127 | 2.8 | 167 |
| In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream | 225 | 163 | 1.4 | 126 |
| Frozen in Time | 173 | 150 | 1.1 | 119 |
| Companions of the Doctor | 137 | 163 | 0.8 | 92 |
Deckard and Han Solo, a pair from different groups
The most common cross-group pairing in the wrong guesses was Deckard with Han Solo, which appeared together 150 times. Deckard belongs to blue and Han Solo to purple. Han Solo was also the tile most often wrongly guessed in the purple group, with 152 wrong guesses among players trying to solve it, ahead of Khan on 125 and Dr. Mann on 93.
The most common single wrong guess was Bishop, Deckard, Hudson and Ripley, made 22 times, which mixes green and blue tiles. We can't tell why players reached for these combinations. The numbers show Deckard was pulled into guesses from several directions, and that 56% of wrong guesses were one tile away from a correct group.
Which tiles ended up in wrong guesses
How many of the 895 wrong guesses included each tile.
- Companions of the Doctor
- In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream
- On the Case
- Frozen in Time
View data as a table
| Tile | Group | Wrong guesses containing it | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deckard | On the Case | 421 | 47% |
| Dr. Mann | Frozen in Time | 342 | 38% |
| Han Solo | Frozen in Time | 301 | 34% |
| RoboCop | On the Case | 285 | 32% |
| Khan | Frozen in Time | 274 | 31% |
| George Taylor | Frozen in Time | 274 | 31% |
| Ripley | In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream | 253 | 28% |
| Bishop | In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream | 234 | 26% |
| Batman | On the Case | 232 | 26% |
| Fox Mulder | On the Case | 220 | 25% |
| Hudson | In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream | 171 | 19% |
| Dallas | In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream | 137 | 15% |
| Rose Tyler | Companions of the Doctor | 121 | 14% |
| Amy Pond | Companions of the Doctor | 113 | 13% |
| River Song | Companions of the Doctor | 110 | 12% |
| Donna | Companions of the Doctor | 92 | 10% |
By the numbers
Play it yourself
Stargrid is a daily sci-fi connections puzzle: sixteen characters, ships and worlds, four hidden groups, ten wrong guesses before it ends. Every puzzle goes into the archive once its day is over, so #181 is still playable there.