Patches · No. 157 · Friday edition
LinkedIn Patches #157 Answer (Aug 21, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #157 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C4–R2C5 (4 cells)
- Patch 2: R1C2–R2C3 (4 cells)
- Patch 3: R1C6–R3C6 (3 cells)
- Patch 4: R3C2–R3C5 (4 cells)
- Patch 5: R1C7–R3C7 (3 cells)
- Patch 6: R4C2–R5C3 (4 cells)
- Patch 7: R4C4–R4C7 (4 cells)
- Patch 8: R1C1–R5C1 (5 cells)
- Patch 9: R5C4–R5C7 (4 cells)
- Patch 10: R6C1–R7C3 (6 cells)
- Patch 11: R6C4–R6C7 (4 cells)
- Patch 12: R7C4–R7C7 (4 cells)
About Patches #157
- Patches #157 splits a 7×7 grid into 12 patches.
- Clue shapes: 1 square, 2 wide, 1 tall, 8 free-form.
- 2 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 12 patches, more than the average of 10.9 across the previous 7 puzzles.
- Each patch is one rectangle holding exactly one clue, with the clue's shape and, where a number is shown, exactly that many squares.
- Only one square rectangle of 4 squares fits inside the grid around the square 4 clue at R1C4 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 2×2 block from R1C4 to R2C5.
- With the patch for the square 4 clue at R1C4 fixed, squares R1C1 and R2C1 can only be reached by the free-form 5 clue at R5C1, so they belong to that patch, and the only rectangle for that clue that includes them is the 5×1 block from R1C1 to R5C1.
- Squares R1C2, R1C3, and R2C2 can only be reached by the free-form 4 clue at R2C3, so they belong to that patch.