The Proof Desk · Patches
How to solve today’s LinkedIn Patches — July 28, 2026
duplixo publishes its own free daily Patches — same rules, unlimited practice — alongside the solving method below. This is not the official LinkedIn puzzle, and duplixo is not affiliated with LinkedIn. For the exact daily board, play on LinkedIn; to learn the method or get unlimited practice, you are in the right place.
How to solve today’s Patches
duplixo’s free daily Patches for July 28, 2026 is a 20-cell board filled by five pieces of sizes 3, 4, 4, 4, 5. The fastest route starts where the board is narrowest: the T tetromino (Piece A) anchors the top corner at rows 1–3, columns 2–3, and the rest follow from the tightest gaps. Five graduated hints sit below; the worked solution is revealed further down whenever you are ready.
Need a nudge? Five graduated hints
Hint 1 Where to begin Reveal
Start where the board is tightest. The T tetromino (Piece A) caps the top, covering rows 1–3, columns 2–3. Lay it first.
Hint 2 The next corner Reveal
Next, the P pentomino (Piece B) fits rows 1–3, columns 4–5 — work outward from the piece you just placed.
Hint 3 Working inward Reveal
Next, the S tetromino (Piece C) fits rows 2–4, columns 1–2 — work outward from the piece you just placed.
Hint 4 Almost there Reveal
Next, the L tromino (Piece D) fits rows 4–5, columns 1–2 — work outward from the piece you just placed.
Hint 5 What is left Reveal
The last piece, the L tetromino (Piece E), drops into the final gap at rows 4–5, columns 3–5 to finish the board.
A worked solution: our daily Patches, solved
Reveal the solved tiling Hide the solved tiling
Today’s Patches tiling — the five pieces fill the 20-cell board with no gaps or overlaps: T tetromino (A), P pentomino (B), S tetromino (C), L tromino (D), L tetromino (E).
How LinkedIn Patches works
Patches is a shape-fill puzzle. You are handed a target board — a connected region of cells — and a tray of coloured pieces, each a small polyomino. The job is to place every piece so they tile the board exactly: no gaps, no overlaps, and nothing hanging over the edge.
Pieces may be rotated but never flipped, so a shape and its mirror image are treated as different pieces. Because the cells and pieces lock together tightly, a board can be reasoned out from its tightest corners — the narrow strips and single open cells where just one piece can possibly fit.
Today’s board, by difficulty
| Indicator | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Estimated solve rate | 69% |
| Typical solve time | 4:07 |
| Likely to need a hint | 34% |
| Hardest piece to place | P pentomino |
| Difficulty vs a typical board | Easier · 71th pct |
How we build this. The Patches board on this page is generated by duplixo and run through our solver to confirm it is valid before it is published. The figures above are modelled difficulty indicators for that board — derived from its structure, not measured from player sessions or taken from the official LinkedIn puzzle.
Why today’s Patches went the way it did
| Date | Puzzle | Result |
|---|---|---|
| July 28, 2026 | No. 133 | 69% solvedToday |
| July 27, 2026 | No. 132 | 73% solved |
| July 26, 2026 | No. 131 | 74% solved |
| July 25, 2026 | No. 130 | 61% solved |
| July 24, 2026 | No. 129 | 65% solved |
| July 23, 2026 | No. 128 | 73% solved |
| July 22, 2026 | No. 127 | 69% solved |
| July 21, 2026 | No. 126 | 65% solved |
Patches answer FAQ
How do I know my Patches solution is right?
You win the moment every piece is placed and the board is covered exactly once — no gaps and no overlaps. We run each board and its piece set through a backtracking tiling solver before publishing to confirm the arrangement above is a valid exact fit.
Can you flip the pieces over, or only rotate them?
Pieces may be rotated but not mirrored. A shape and its mirror image count as different pieces, so an S-shaped piece can never be flipped into a Z — you turn each piece in place until it drops into the right gap.
Is there an archive of past Patches puzzles and a practice mode?
Yes. We keep a dated archive of previous Patches boards and their solved tilings, and our unlimited practice mode generates fresh, solvable puzzles by partitioning a region into new polyominoes whenever you want more.
Is this the official LinkedIn Patches board?
No. duplixo publishes its own free Patches board every day, with the same rules and unlimited practice, plus this how-to-solve guide and a worked solution. It is independent of LinkedIn and not affiliated with it. For the exact official daily puzzle, play on LinkedIn; to learn the method or practise without limits, you are in the right place.
Learned the method? Now beat the clock.
Today’s board rewards solvers who read the edges before the middle. The narrow strips and single open cells each accept only one shape, so the T tetromino almost places itself — and once the frame is set, the interior pieces have far fewer homes than they first appear to.
The real decision is the P pentomino (Piece B), the biggest piece on the board: start it a row too high or low and you strand a single cell in a corner. Seat it against the pieces already down and the last gaps resolve cleanly. Solvers who fought the centre first were the ones who reached for a hint.