TITLE: A question about connected subsets of $[0,1]^2$
QUESTION [36 upvotes]: If $S⊂[0,1]^2$ intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $x$-axis, must $S$ have a connected component with a full projection on the $y$-axis?
An equivalent form：
If $S⊂[0,1]^2$ intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $x$-axis and $T⊂[0,1]^2$ intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $y$-axis, must $S\cap T\neq \emptyset$?
The motivation of this question:
The question came to me when I thought about the Brouwer fixed-point theorem:
Let $f=(f_1,f_2)$ be a continuous function mappping $[0,1]^2$ to itself. Then
$$S\triangleq\{(x,y)\in[0,1]^2:f_1(x,y)=x\}$$
intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $x$-axis and
$$T\triangleq\{(x,y)\in[0,1]^2:f_2(x,y)=y\}$$
intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $y$-axis.
My further question:
If we assume that $S\subset [0,1]^2$ is a close set, what is the answer to my question, that is, if a close set $S⊂[0,1]^2$ intersects every connected subset of $[0,1]^2$ with a full projection on the $x$-axis, must $S$ have a connected component with a full projection on the $y$-axis?

REPLY [4 votes]: This is an answer to the updated question.
Proposition: If a closed $S\subset [0,1]\times [0,1]$ intersects every connected set with a full projection onto the $x$-axis, then it has a component with a full projection onto the $y$-axis.
First, without loss of generality we may assume that $S$ does not intersect the left and the right sides of the square (otherwise, consider the same problem but for $[-1,2]\times [0,1]$. Let $\Pi=(0,1)\times (0,1)$, which is homeomorphic to the full plane.
Pick a point on the left side take a disk $D$ around this point that does not intersect $S$. Take $x$ in $D\cap \Pi$. Do the same on the right side and get $E$ and $y$.  Let $S'=S\cap \Pi$, which is closed in $\Pi$.
Now $S'$ separates $x$ and $y$ within $\Pi$ (meaning any connected set in $\Pi$ that contains $x$ and $y$ has to intersect $S'$. Indeed, if a connected set $F\subset \Pi$ contains $x$ and $y$, then $F\cup D\cup E$ has a full projection onto the $x$-axis, and so has to intersect $S$, but since $D$ and $E$ do not, it follows that $F\cap S'=F\cap S\ne\varnothing$ (the first equality follows from $F\subset\Pi$).
Since $S'$ is closed in $\Pi$, which is homeomorphic to the plane, by a Theorem V.14.3 in the book Newman - Elements of topology of planar sets of points, there is a component $C$ of $S'$ that separates $x$ and $y$ in $\Pi$. Clearly, $C$ has a full projection on the $y$-axis (and so it is $(0,1)$), since otherwise we could sneak in a horizontal segment between the left and right sides, which would contradict the separation.
Since $S$ is closed, $\overline{C}$ is a connected compact subset of $S$. Hence, $C$ has a compact projection onto $y$ axis, and so this projection is $[0,1]$.