Every level is the same question: where do these pieces go so that every target lights up at once? Here is how to answer it faster, from the first read to the trickiest worlds.
Look at the targets first. Which ones are clustered together, and which sit alone in a corner or on an edge? Isolated targets are usually what makes a level hard, because only a few placements can reach them. Solve the board in your head around those hard targets, not the easy clump in the middle.
If your tray has a pawn, place it early. A pawn lights only two squares, so its correct spot is almost forced, and once it is down the rest of the board opens up. The same logic applies in reverse to the queen: it is so flexible that you should usually save it for last, to mop up whatever the other pieces could not reach.
This is the core deduction of the game. If a target sits on a diagonal that no rook can ever hit, it has to be covered by a bishop or a queen. If a target is a lone square that no straight or diagonal line passes through cleanly, a knight's jump may be the only way in. Work out which target can be reached by the fewest piece types, and let that decide where those pieces go.
Hold a piece over different squares and watch the preview before you let go. You are not guessing: you are testing. Slide a rook along a row and watch which targets light and which go dark. The preview is the fastest way to see a piece's reach on an unfamiliar board shape.
In Clocks the boards are small and generated, so pattern speed matters more than deep planning. Trust the constrained-piece-first habit, place quickly, and remember three wrong answers end the run. In Survival there is no timer, so slow down and protect your strikes.