Patches · No. 180 · Sunday edition
LinkedIn Patches #180 Answer (Sep 13, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #180 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C1–R8C1 (8 cells)
- Patch 2: R1C2–R4C2 (4 cells)
- Patch 3: R1C6–R5C6 (5 cells)
- Patch 4: R1C7–R3C8 (6 cells)
- Patch 5: R1C3–R3C4 (6 cells)
- Patch 6: R4C4–R5C4 (2 cells)
- Patch 7: R1C5–R5C5 (5 cells)
- Patch 8: R6C4–R7C6 (6 cells)
- Patch 9: R5C2–R7C2 (3 cells)
- Patch 10: R4C3–R7C3 (4 cells)
- Patch 11: R4C7–R7C8 (8 cells)
- Patch 12: R8C2–R8C8 (7 cells)
About Patches #180
- Patches #180 splits an 8×8 grid into 12 patches.
- Clue shapes: 4 tall, 8 free-form.
- 4 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 12 patches, more than the average of 8.3 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 5 squares fits inside the grid around the free-form 5 clue at R2C6 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 5×1 block from R1C6 to R5C6.
- With the patch for the free-form 5 clue at R2C6 fixed, the free-form 8 clue at R1C1 has only one rectangle left, the 8×1 block from R1C1 to R8C1.
- With the patch for the free-form 5 clue at R2C6 fixed, square R1C2 can only be reached by the tall clue with no number at R2C2, so it belongs to that patch.