Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's puzzles feature identical zone layouts across all difficulty levels, creating a unique challenge where strategy matters more than complexity. 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
Today's Medium Pips
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: The purple (2) zone is your anchor - it requires exactly 2 pips total, giving you limited placement options.
Key Insight: The navy (>9) zone needs pips greater than 9, which means you'll need your highest-value dominoes there.
Watch Out For: The green (<3) zone restricts domino halves to values 0, 1, or 2 only. Misplacing a higher value here will break the puzzle.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone and orange (9) zone
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the purple (2) zone and pink (9) zone
- 3.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the pink (9) zone and teal (=) zone
- 4.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the orange (9) zone and green (<3) zone
- 5.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the green (<3) zone and purple (=) zone
- 6.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 7.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and navy (>9) zone
- 8.Place the 6/4 domino vertically in the navy (>9) zone and pink (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with identical layouts
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - despite identical solutions, the mental load of managing multiple constraints simultaneously makes it challenging.
Our Take: Today's identical layout across all difficulties creates an interesting study in puzzle psychology. The same solution feels progressively harder as you move from Easy to Hard, demonstrating how perceived difficulty affects problem-solving. The green (<3) zone restriction proves to be the key constraint that guides the entire placement sequence.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
