LinkedIn Patches #52 Answer & Analysis

The red 4 in the top-left corner can only extend straight down the left edge. The green 4 beside it is also forced into a vertical strip. This immediately clears the first two columns and removes most ambiguity from the upper-left side.

After the left edge is reserved, the cyan 5 at the top must occupy the remaining open cells across the top row. This is one of the key structural moves because it prevents the upper board from splitting into awkward leftovers.

The blue 6 has enough room only as a tall vertical region in column 3. Once the top-row cell is reserved for the 5, the 6-cell patch cleanly drops down the rest of that column without conflict.

The 12-cell patch is best placed as a 6-by-2 block in the center of the grid. It fills the space between the left-side towers and the right-side stack, and it naturally splits the board into two solvable halves.

The orange 2 fits as a short horizontal pair near the top-right. Directly below it, the gold 4 fills the next right-side block. These two patches are constrained by the board edge and by the central 12, so they cannot swap places.