Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles to kick off the week. July 13 delivers a well-balanced trio with consistent zone layouts across all three difficulty levels, making this a great day to practice your domino placement logic. 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 equal-condition zones (navy =, purple =, orange =) are your most constrained regions. Solve these first to create a structural framework for the rest of the puzzle.
Key Insight: Multiple zones share dominoes across their boundaries. Track which domino halves belong to which zone and verify conditions cumulatively, not in isolation.
Watch Out For: The teal (<2) zone is easy to misplace. Only pips 0 and 1 are allowed, so dominoes like 2/0 must have the 0 facing into teal. Also watch the orange (=) zone -- all three domino halves placed there must show the same pip value.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the purple (4) exact-sum zone. The 2/2 domino is the only match. Place it horizontally to anchor the entire grid.
- 2.Move to the navy (=) equal-condition zone. Place 4/4 vertically here. Every pip in navy must be 4. This locks in a critical constraint.
- 3.Now bridge purple (=) and navy (=) with 5/4 horizontally. Purple (=) gets a 5, navy (=) gets a 4. Navy now has two 4s (from the 4/4 and this placement). Purple (=) now has one 5.
- 4.Bridge purple (=) and teal (4) with 5/2 horizontally. Purple (=) gets another 5, maintaining equal values. Teal (4) gets a 2. Teal now has one domino half (value 2).
- 5.Address pink (3) and green (3). Place 1/3 vertically to bridge them. Pink gets 1, green gets 3. Both zones now have partial sums toward their exact totals.
- 6.Place 2/0 horizontally in pink (3) and teal (<2). Pink gets 2 (now 1+2=3, condition satisfied). Teal gets 0. Teal now has 0 and 2 (values 0+2=2 toward its total of 4).
- 7.Bridge green (3) and pink (5) with 0/4 vertically. Green gets 0 (now 3+0=3, condition satisfied). Pink (5) gets 4.
- 8.Bridge pink (5) and navy (5) with 1/5 vertically. Pink (5) gets 1 (now 4+1=5, condition satisfied). Navy (5) gets 5.
- 9.Place 6/2 vertically in orange (8). Sum 6+2=8, condition satisfied.
- 10.Bridge orange (=) and teal (4) with 3/2 horizontally. Orange (=) gets 3. Teal (4) gets 2. Teal now totals 2+2=4, condition satisfied. Orange (=) now has one 3.
- 11.Finish with 3/5 horizontally bridging orange (=) and green (5). Orange (=) gets another 3, maintaining equal values. Green (5) gets 5. Green (5) now totals. That's its only pip in that zone, so 5=5 works.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the purple (4) zone
- 2.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone
- 3.Place the 5/4 domino horizontally in the purple (=) and navy (=) zones
- 4.Place the 5/2 domino horizontally in the purple (=) and teal (4) zones
- 5.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the pink (3) and green (3) zones.
- 6.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the pink (3) and teal (<2) zones.
- 7.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the green (3) and pink (5) zones.
- 8.Place the 1/5 domino vertically in the pink (5) and navy (5) zones.
- 9.Place the 6/2 domino vertically in the orange (8) zone.
- 10.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in the orange (=) and teal (4) zones
- 11.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the orange (=) and green (5) zones
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge across the board. The zone layouts are identical for all three difficulty levels, but the strategic depth increases as you account for cumulative constraints and multi-zone domino bridges.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The equal-condition zones (navy =, purple =, orange =) combined with the restrictive teal (<2) zone create a web of interdependencies. One wrong orientation on the 2/0 domino and the teal zone breaks entirely.
Our Take: Today's Pips set is a solid Monday offering. The consistent zone layout across all difficulties means you can practice the same spatial logic while the challenge ramps up through constraint density. The teal (<2) zone is the real gatekeeper on Hard mode -- it forces precise domino orientation and punishes rushed placements. Good warmup for the week ahead.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
