Patches · No. 166 · Sunday edition
LinkedIn Patches #166 Answer (Aug 30, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #166 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C4–R4C4 (4 cells)
- Patch 2: R1C5–R2C7 (6 cells)
- Patch 3: R1C1–R3C2 (6 cells)
- Patch 4: R1C3–R3C3 (3 cells)
- Patch 5: R3C5–R3C7 (3 cells)
- Patch 6: R1C8–R3C8 (3 cells)
- Patch 7: R4C1–R8C1 (5 cells)
- Patch 8: R4C6–R4C8 (3 cells)
- Patch 9: R4C2–R6C3 (6 cells)
- Patch 10: R5C6–R7C8 (9 cells)
- Patch 11: R5C4–R8C4 (4 cells)
- Patch 12: R4C5–R7C5 (4 cells)
- Patch 13: R7C2–R8C3 (4 cells)
- Patch 14: R8C5–R8C8 (4 cells)
About Patches #166
- Patches #166 splits an 8×8 grid into 14 patches.
- Clue shapes: 1 wide, 1 tall, 12 free-form.
- 2 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 14 patches, more than the average of 8.9 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 free-form rectangle of 6 squares fits inside the grid around the free-form 6 clue at R3C1 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 3×2 block from R1C1 to R3C2.
- Only one free-form rectangle of 3 squares fits inside the grid around the free-form 3 clue at R3C8 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 3×1 block from R1C8 to R3C8.
- Squares R1C7, R2C5, and R2C7 can only be reached by the free-form 6 clue at R1C5, so they belong to that patch, and the only rectangle for that clue that includes them is the 2×3 block from R1C5 to R2C7.