Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles to kick off the week. This is a solid Monday spread -- approachable for newcomers but with enough edge on the Hard puzzle to keep veterans honest. 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 (3) zone is your only hard constraint early on. Start there and let the rest fall into place.
Key Insight: The orange (>0) zone is the escape valve. Use it to absorb domino halves that don't fit cleanly into exact-number zones.
Watch Out For: Don't commit the orange (>0) zone too early. It's tempting to drop anything there, but you need to leave room for dominoes that genuinely have no other home.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 3/6 vertically. The 3 locks into purple (3) and the 6 goes into the uncolored zone. This is the only domino that can satisfy purple (3) with a single half.
- 2.Place the 0/2 horizontally across pink (0) and teal (2). Pink demands zero and teal demands two -- this domino is purpose-built for both.
- 3.Set the 2/1 vertically in orange (2) and purple (1). Orange needs exactly 2, purple needs exactly 1. Both satisfied.
- 4.Drop the 1/0 vertically in navy (1) and the uncolored zone. Navy's exact-1 is handled.
- 5.Place the 5/0 vertically in green (5) and the uncolored zone. Green's exact-5 is handled.
- 6.Set the 0/4 vertically in the uncolored zone and teal (4). Teal's exact-4 is handled.
- 7.Place the 3/4 horizontally across orange (3) and navy (4). Both exact-number zones satisfied.
- 8.Drop the 1/3 vertically in pink (1) and green (3).
- 9.Set the 0/3 vertically in purple (0) and navy (3).
- 10.Place the 2/3 vertically in pink (2) and green (3).
- 11.Set the 4/5 horizontally across teal (4) and orange (5).
- 12.Place the 4/1 horizontally in purple (4) and pink (1).
- 13.Drop the 1/5 vertically in teal (1) and purple (5).
- 14.Set the 2/4 horizontally in orange (2) and navy (4).
- 15.Place the 5/3 horizontally in pink (5) and teal (3).
- 16.Finish with the 5/2 vertically in green (5) and orange (>0). Green gets its second exact-5, and the 2 in orange clears the greater-than-zero condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 3/6 domino vertically in the purple (3) zone and uncolored (no condition) zone
- 2.Place the 0/2 domino horizontally in the pink (0) zone and teal (2) zone
- 3.Place the 2/1 domino vertically in the orange (2) zone and purple (1) zone
- 4.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the navy (1) zone and uncolored (no condition) zone
- 5.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the green (5) zone and uncolored (no condition) zone
- 6.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and teal (4) zone
- 7.Place the 3/4 domino horizontally in the orange (3) zone and navy (4) zone
- 8.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the pink (1) zone and green (3) zone
- 9.Place the 0/3 domino vertically in the purple (0) zone and navy (3) zone
- 10.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the pink (2) zone and green (3) zone
- 11.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the teal (4) zone and orange (5) zone
- 12.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally in the purple (4) zone and pink (1) zone
- 13.Place the 1/5 domino vertically in the teal (1) zone and purple (5) zone
- 14.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in the orange (2) zone and navy (4) zone
- 15.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the pink (5) zone and teal (3) zone
- 16.Place the 5/2 domino vertically in the green (5) zone and orange (>0) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Easy day. All three puzzles share the same grid and solution, making this about as straightforward as a Monday gets.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The identical layout means the Hard puzzle's difficulty comes from the number of dominoes and the pressure of the orange (>0) zone placement. Misplacing that last domino can force a full restart.
Our Take: A generous Monday spread. The shared solution across all three difficulty levels is unusual -- usually the Hard puzzle introduces a different grid. If you solved Easy, you already know the answer to Hard. That said, the orange (>0) zone is a good reminder that sometimes the simplest conditions create the most interesting puzzles.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
