Friday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set features a mix of exact number requirements and equality conditions that create interesting domino placement challenges. We've got hints, step-by-step walkthroughs, and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.
How to Play Pips
Pips is a domino placement puzzle where you fill a grid of color-coded zones. Each zone has a condition 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 equal 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 Color Free space, any domino value works
Click or tap dominoes to rotate them. Each puzzle has one or more valid solutions.
Today's Easy Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the purple zone requiring exactly 6 total pips - this zone needs careful domino selection.
Key Insight: The orange equality zone (=) will force dominoes to have matching values on both sides of the zone boundary.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone
- 2.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and teal (7) zone
- 3.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the pink (3) zone
- 4.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the pink (3) zone and orange (=) zone
- 5.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone and orange (=) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Look at the two teal equality zones (=) - they'll dictate domino placement across multiple zones.
Key Insight: The purple (>4) and navy (>4) zones require dominoes with high pip values, but careful placement is needed to avoid conflicts.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 6/4 domino vertically in the purple (>4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 2.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 3.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the pink (2) zone and orange (=) zone
- 4.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the navy (>4) zone and purple (8) zone
- 5.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and purple (8) zone
- 6.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the green (6) zone and purple (8) zone
- 7.Place the 6/1 domino horizontally in the green (6) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Focus on the multiple equality zones (=) - they create strict constraints that dominoes must satisfy.
Key Insight: The orange (11) and purple (12) zones with exact number requirements will dictate which high-value dominoes you need.
Watch Out For: Multiple equality zones mean dominoes crossing them must have identical values on both sides - this severely limits placement options.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone
- 2.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 0/4 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (=) zone
- 4.Place the 4/6 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (11) zone
- 5.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and green (4) zone
- 6.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 7.Place the 5/3 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 8.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone
- 9.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally in the navy (4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 10.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone
- 11.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in the purple (12) zone and teal (=) zone
- 12.Place the 5/6 domino vertically in the orange (11) zone and purple (12) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with increasing complexity across difficulty levels.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the multiple equality zones create a web of constraints that dominoes must satisfy simultaneously, requiring careful planning of domino placement order.
Our Take: Today's puzzles showcase how equality zones (=) create the most challenging constraints in Pips. The Hard puzzle demonstrates that multiple equality zones force dominoes to have matching values across zone boundaries, severely limiting placement options. Medium introduces greater-than conditions that add strategic depth without overwhelming complexity.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
