Patches · No. 187 · Sunday edition
LinkedIn Patches #187 Answer (Sep 20, 2026)
Hint: Place the large numbered patches first — they have the fewest ways to fit.
Show Patches #187 answer as text
- Patch 1: R1C2–R1C4 (3 cells)
- Patch 2: R1C6–R3C6 (3 cells)
- Patch 3: R1C1–R3C1 (3 cells)
- Patch 4: R2C2–R2C4 (3 cells)
- Patch 5: R1C5–R3C5 (3 cells)
- Patch 6: R1C7–R3C7 (3 cells)
- Patch 7: R3C2–R3C4 (3 cells)
- Patch 8: R4C4–R5C5 (4 cells)
- Patch 9: R4C1–R7C1 (4 cells)
- Patch 10: R4C3–R7C3 (4 cells)
- Patch 11: R6C4–R7C5 (4 cells)
- Patch 12: R4C6–R6C7 (6 cells)
- Patch 13: R4C2–R7C2 (4 cells)
- Patch 14: R7C6–R7C7 (2 cells)
About Patches #187
- Patches #187 splits a 7×7 grid into 14 patches.
- Clue shapes: 2 square, 2 wide, 5 tall, 5 free-form.
- 7 clues show no size, so those patches can be any area.
- LinkedIn rates it Hard.
- It has 14 patches, more than the average of 10.1 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 3 squares fits inside the grid around the wide 3 clue at R2C3 without taking in another clue, so its patch must be the 1×3 block from R2C2 to R2C4.
- Square R1C3 can only be reached by the free-form 3 clue at R1C2, so it belongs to that patch.
- Square R2C6 can only be reached by the free-form 3 clue at R1C6, so it belongs to that patch, and the only rectangle for that clue that includes it is the 3×1 block from R1C6 to R3C6.