Patches #80 answer board
Friday, June 5, 2026 — the day this LinkedIn patch went live as that day's daily board.
Stuck on Patches #80? Below is the full colored board, the deductions that get you there, and the lessons you can carry to tomorrow's grid.
Friday, June 5, 2026
The answer is hidden until you ask for it. Work through the board, then hit Reveal the solution to compare your work — or pick another day.
One puzzle a day from LinkedIn isn't enough to call yourself good at this. Patches Unlimited hides the answer on every past board so you can replay them blind — and find out how much of your read on the grid actually held up.
Each step closes one rectangle. The order matters: every placement narrows what the next clue can be.
The most logical starting point is the Green 7. As a prime number, its only possible dimensions are 1x7 or 7x1. Its clue is tucked into the top-right corner. A horizontal 1x7 strip is immediately impossible as it would run off the grid. This forces it to be a 7x1 vertical strip, locking down the entire rightmost column for seven of the eight rows. This single move provides a hard boundary for multiple other shapes.
With the Green 7 in place, the Yellow 4 is now constrained. Its clue is in the second-to-last column. It cannot be a 1x4 or a 2x2 shape without colliding with its green neighbor. The only remaining option is a 4x1 vertical strip, which fits next to the Green 7.
The Red 5 (another prime) can only be a 1x5 or 5x1. A 5x1 vertical strip is blocked by the Yellow 4 below it. This forces it into a 1x5 horizontal configuration.
The placement of the Red 5 immediately boxes in the Teal 4. It can't go up, right, or expand into a 2x2 or 4x1. It is squeezed into a 1x4 horizontal strip. The same logic then applies to the Light Blue 5, which is forced into a 1x5 horizontal shape by the pieces above and to its right.
With the majority of the board solved, the remaining pieces fall into place. The Purple 4 in the bottom-left corner has only one place to go: a 4x1 vertical strip in the first column. This final placement reveals the dimensions of the last two shapes. The empty space at the bottom must be the Brown patch (a 2x5 rectangle of area 10), and the remaining space at the top must be the Orange patch (also a 2x5 rectangle of area 10).
Prime numbers are useful anchors in Patches. Clues like 5 and 7 have only two possible rectangular shapes (1xN or Nx1), narrowing the initial possibilities.
Clues located in corners or along the edges are inherently more constrained than those in the center. The Green 7 in the corner was the clear example; its position eliminated most of its expansion options, making it the ideal starting point.
Often, the solution to a difficult piece isn't found by analyzing that piece alone, but by solving the pieces around it to create boundaries that force its shape.
Patches #80 ran on Friday, June 5, 2026 as part of LinkedIn's daily mini-game lineup. The board is no longer playable on LinkedIn itself, but the original colored grid lives at the source linked below.
Patches #80 is a 8×8 board — 64 cells in total — to be carved into several non-overlapping rectangles.
Yes — we replay the puzzle on LinkedIn Games every morning, capture the start and solved boards, and only publish once the colored solution matches LinkedIn's official reveal. If the LinkedIn server changes the daily puzzle mid-day, we reflect the change here within minutes.