NYT Pips Hints, Answers and Walkthrough for Sunday, November 15, 2026

Sunday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Easy offers a compact warmup, Medium stretches across a narrow central bridge, and Hard makes the biggest leap with two four-cell equality zones in its bottom corners. We've got quick hints and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard.

How to Play Pips

Pips is a domino placement puzzle where you fill a grid of condition zones. Each zone has a rule you must satisfy using the pip values on your dominoes. The twist: you must use every domino and meet every condition to win.

Zone Conditions:

• = All pips in this zone must show the same number
• Not Equal All pips must be different numbers
• > Pips must be greater than the listed number
• < Pips must be less than the listed number
• Exact Number Pips must total that exact value
• No Condition Free space, any domino value works

Click or tap dominoes to rotate them. Each puzzle has one or more valid solutions. When two zones share the same rule, we number them in reading order, top to bottom.

Today's Easy Pips

The Easy board runs four rows by four columns, with ten open cells and five dominoes to place. Its condition zones: two single cells that must total 5, a two-cell zone where every pip must match, a two-cell zone that must total less than 3, a two-cell zone that must total 9, a two-cell zone that must total 3. Any other open cell is a free space.

Quick Hint: Start with the two-cell zone at the bottom left whose total must stay below 3. Compare that ceiling with the smallest nonzero end in the pool, then check what the blank ends bring attached.

Today's Medium Pips

The Medium board runs three rows by six columns, with 14 open cells and seven dominoes to place. Its condition zones: a three-cell zone that must total 10, a single cell that must show more than 2, a single cell that must show more than 1, a two-cell zone where every pip must match, a single cell that must total 0, a two-cell zone that must total 5, a two-cell zone that must total 8. Any other open cell is a free space.

Quick Hint: Use the single-cell zero clue in the middle row near the right edge as your anchor. Check the partner on the pool's only blank-ended domino against the adjacent zone totaling 8 before choosing its direction.

Today's Hard Pips

The Hard board runs six rows by six columns, with 30 open cells and 15 dominoes to place. Its condition zones: nine single cells that print their exact pip value, two three-cell zones that must total 13, a two-cell zone that must total 4, two single cells that must show more than 4, a two-cell zone that must total less than 4, two four-cell zones where every pip must match, a single cell that must show more than 2. Any other open cell is a free space.

Quick Hint: Begin with the equality blocks in the two bottom corners. Each corner cell has both of its neighbors inside its own equality zone, so each block requires a double. Keep that requirement in view when examining the pool.

Pips Solutions

Last chance to solve independently: full solutions below

---

---

---

---

---

Easy Pips Solution

1. 1.Place the 0-3 domino horizontally across the less-than-3 zone and the sum-3 zone, with the 0 in the less-than-3 zone.
2. 2.Place the 5-4 domino horizontally across the first sum-5 cell and the equals zone, with the 5 in the first sum-5 cell.
3. 3.Place the 5-0 domino vertically across the second sum-5 cell and the less-than-3 zone, with the 5 in the second sum-5 cell.
4. 4.Place the 4-3 domino vertically across the equals zone and the sum-9 zone, with the 4 in the equals zone.
5. 5.Place the 0-6 domino horizontally across the sum-3 zone and the sum-9 zone, with the 0 in the sum-3 zone.

Medium Pips Solution

1. 1.Place the 3-6 domino vertically in the sum-10 zone.
2. 2.Place the 5-1 domino vertically with the 5 in the more-than-2 cell and the 1 on a free cell.
3. 3.Place the 4-1 domino horizontally in the sum-5 zone.
4. 4.Place the 1-2 domino horizontally across the sum-10 zone and the more-than-1 cell, with the 1 in the sum-10 zone.
5. 5.Place the 2-3 domino horizontally with the 3 in the sum-8 zone and the 2 on a free cell.
6. 6.Place the 0-5 domino horizontally across the sum-0 cell and the sum-8 zone, with the 0 in the sum-0 cell.
7. 7.Place the 2-2 domino horizontally in the equals zone.

Hard Pips Solution

1. 1.Place the 2-0 domino horizontally across the third sum-2 cell and the first equals zone, with the 2 in the third sum-2 cell.
2. 2.Place the 1-2 domino horizontally in the less-than-4 zone.
3. 3.Place the 5-1 domino vertically across the first more-than-4 cell and the second sum-13 zone, with the 5 in the first more-than-4 cell.
4. 4.Place the 6-3 domino vertically in the first sum-13 zone.
5. 5.Place the 6-5 domino horizontally across the second equals zone and the second more-than-4 cell, with the 6 in the second equals zone.
6. 6.Place the 0-3 domino horizontally across the first equals zone and the more-than-2 cell, with the 0 in the first equals zone.
7. 7.Place the 1-3 domino horizontally in the sum-4 zone.
8. 8.Place the 2-4 domino horizontally across the second sum-2 cell and the second sum-4 cell, with the 2 in the second sum-2 cell.
9. 9.Place the 4-5 domino vertically across the first sum-4 cell and the sum-5 cell, with the 4 in the first sum-4 cell.
10. 10.Place the 6-6 domino vertically in the second equals zone.
11. 11.Place the 0-0 domino vertically in the first equals zone.
12. 12.Place the 6-0 domino horizontally across the second sum-13 zone and the sum-0 cell, with the 6 in the second sum-13 zone.
13. 13.Place the 1-4 domino horizontally across the sum-1 cell and the first sum-13 zone, with the 1 in the sum-1 cell.
14. 14.Place the 6-2 domino horizontally across the second sum-13 zone and the first sum-2 cell, with the 6 in the second sum-13 zone.
15. 15.Place the 4-6 domino horizontally across the third sum-4 cell and the second equals zone, with the 4 in the third sum-4 cell.

Puzzle Debrief

Overall Difficulty: This set builds from a manageable five-domino Easy to a seven-domino Medium, then takes a substantial step up with Hard's fifteen dominoes and eighteen zones. Hard earns its label through the extra coordination those constraints demand.

Our Take: Hard's matching corner blocks give the finish its character, with four blanks at the bottom left and four sixes at the bottom right. Those opposite extremes make a satisfying payoff for tracking both pip values and domino partners.

Until Tomorrow

See you for the next set, with a fresh eye for what each domino brings along.

Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.