NYT Pips Hints, Answers and Walkthrough for Friday, July 24, 2026

Friday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles with the same zone layout across all three difficulties, making this a day where placement precision matters more than puzzle variation. 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

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Today's Medium Pips

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Today's Hard Pips

Quick Hints (No Spoilers)

Starting Point: The three equal-value zones (purple =, orange =, navy =) are your highest-leverage placements. Get those values locked in first - they determine what can and cannot go into every adjacent zone.

Key Insight: The 0/6 domino is the most consequential piece on the board. It sets purple's equal value to 0 while also dumping a 6 into pink (>4). If you reverse the orientation, purple's equal value becomes 6, which cascades through every domino touching purple - including green (5), which would become impossible to satisfy.

Watch Out For: The teal zones are tricky because there are three of them with different conditions (>2, >3, and exact 6). Make sure you're tracking which teal zone each domino enters. The 4/0 and 4/3 dominoes both touch teal but satisfy different teal zones. Mixing them up is the most common mistake.

Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. 1.Place the 0/6 horizontally in purple (=) and pink (>4). This is the critical opening move. The 0 sets purple's equal value to 0 - every other domino entering purple must have a 0 on the purple side. The 6 satisfies pink's greater-than-4 condition immediately.
2. 2.Place the 0/3 horizontally in purple (=) and orange (=). The 0 matches purple's equal condition. The 3 sets orange's equal value to 3 - every domino entering orange must carry a 3 on the orange side.
3. 3.Place the 5/0 horizontally in green (5) and purple (=). The 5 satisfies green's exact-5 requirement. The 0 matches purple's equal condition. Green is complete.
4. 4.Place the 3/1 horizontally in orange (=) and purple (1). The 3 matches orange's equal condition. The 1 satisfies purple's exact-1 requirement. Purple (1) is complete.
5. 5.Place the 1/4 vertically in uncolored (no condition) and pink (6). The 1 goes into the free space. The 4 enters pink (6), which needs exactly 6 total - still 2 short.
6. 6.Place the 0/2 horizontally in orange (0) and pink (6). The 0 satisfies orange's exact-0 requirement. The 2 brings pink (6) to 4+2=6. Done.
7. 7.Place the 2/3 vertically in pink (2) and navy (>2). The 2 satisfies pink's exact-2 requirement. The 3 enters navy (>2) - valid since 3 is greater than 2.
8. 8.Place the 4/3 vertically in teal (>3) and green (3). The 4 satisfies teal's greater-than-3 condition. The 3 satisfies green's exact-3 requirement. Green (3) is complete.
9. 9.Place the 4/5 vertically in orange (4) and purple (>4). The 4 satisfies orange's exact-4 requirement. The 5 satisfies purple's greater-than-4 condition.
10. 10.Place the 0/0 horizontally in navy (=). Both zeros set navy's equal value to 0. Every domino entering navy from here must carry a 0 on the navy side.
11. 11.Place the 4/0 vertically in teal (>2) and navy (=). The 4 satisfies teal's greater-than-2 condition. The 0 matches navy's equal condition.
12. 12.Place the 3/5 vertically in uncolored (no condition) and teal (6). The 3 goes free. The 5 enters teal (6), which needs exactly 6 - still 1 short.
13. 13.Place the 2/1 horizontally in navy (2) and teal (6). The 2 satisfies navy's exact-2 requirement. The 1 completes teal (6) at 5+1=6. All conditions satisfied.

Hard Pips Solution

Last chance to solve independently

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1. 1.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (>4) zone
2. 2.Place the 0/3 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and orange (=) zone
3. 3.Place the 5/0 domino horizontally in the green (5) zone and purple (=) zone
4. 4.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and purple (1) zone
5. 5.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and pink (6) zone
6. 6.Place the 0/2 domino horizontally in the orange (0) zone and pink (6) zone
7. 7.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the pink (2) zone and navy (>2) zone
8. 8.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the teal (>3) zone and green (3) zone
9. 9.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the orange (4) zone and purple (>4) zone
10. 10.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
11. 11.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the teal (>2) zone and navy (=) zone
12. 12.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and teal (6) zone
13. 13.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the navy (2) zone and teal (6) zone

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Puzzle Debrief

Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge - the zone layout is identical across all three difficulties, but the equal-value zones create cascading constraints that punish careless placement regardless of which tier you're playing.

Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the three equal-value zones (purple, orange, navy) form a constraint web that touches nearly every other zone on the board. One wrong orientation on the 0/6 domino at the start and the entire solution unravels. The teal triple-zone setup (>2, >3, exact 6) adds another layer of tracking complexity that makes Hard the clear standout for difficulty.

Our Take: Today's set is a textbook example of how Pips rewards forward thinking. The equal-value zones force you to commit to a global constraint early, and every subsequent placement either confirms or contradicts that choice. If you cracked Hard without help, you've got a solid handle on constraint propagation. The medium difficulty hits the sweet spot for a Friday afternoon - challenging enough to engage, solvable enough to enjoy.

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