Patches · No. 172 · Saturday edition
LinkedIn Patches #172 Answer (Sep 5, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #172 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C1–R5C1 (5 cells)
- Patch 2: R1C2–R1C6 (5 cells)
- Patch 3: R2C2–R2C6 (5 cells)
- Patch 4: R1C7–R5C7 (5 cells)
- Patch 5: R3C5–R7C5 (5 cells)
- Patch 6: R3C2–R5C4 (9 cells)
- Patch 7: R6C1–R6C4 (4 cells)
- Patch 8: R3C6–R7C6 (5 cells)
- Patch 9: R7C1–R7C4 (4 cells)
- Patch 10: R6C7–R7C7 (2 cells)
About Patches #172
- Patches #172 splits a 7×7 grid into 10 patches.
- Clue shapes: 1 square, 1 wide, 2 tall, 6 free-form.
- 5 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 10 patches, the same as the average of 10.0 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.
- Squares R2C3 and R2C4 can only be reached by the free-form 5 clue at R2C2, so they belong to that patch.
- Squares R3C3, R3C4, and R4C3 can only be reached by the square clue with no number at R5C3, so they belong to that patch, and the only rectangle for that clue that includes them is the 3×3 block from R3C2 to R5C4.
- With the patch for the square clue with no number at R5C3 fixed, squares R3C1, R4C1, and R5C1 can only be reached by the free-form 5 clue at R1C1, 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.