Patches · No. 165 · Saturday edition
LinkedIn Patches #165 Answer (Aug 29, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #165 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C1–R1C2 (2 cells)
- Patch 2: R2C1–R2C2 (2 cells)
- Patch 3: R1C3–R3C5 (9 cells)
- Patch 4: R1C6–R3C7 (6 cells)
- Patch 5: R3C2–R6C2 (4 cells)
- Patch 6: R4C3–R4C7 (5 cells)
- Patch 7: R3C1–R7C1 (5 cells)
- Patch 8: R5C3–R5C7 (5 cells)
- Patch 9: R6C3–R6C7 (5 cells)
- Patch 10: R7C2–R7C7 (6 cells)
About Patches #165
- Patches #165 splits a 7×7 grid into 10 patches.
- Clue shapes: 1 square, 3 wide, 3 tall, 3 free-form.
- 5 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 10 patches, more than the average of 9.4 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 wide rectangle of 6 squares fits inside the grid around the wide 6 clue at R7C7 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 1×6 block from R7C2 to R7C7.
- Squares R3C1, R4C1, R6C1, and R7C1 can only be reached by the tall clue with no number at R5C1, so they belong to that patch.
- Square R3C2 can only be reached by the tall clue with no number at R4C2, so it belongs to that patch.