Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles to kick off the week. Today's lineup offers a balanced challenge across all three difficulty tiers, with the Hard puzzle demanding careful attention to zone conditions that overlap in tight spaces. 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 teal equal zones and purple zero zones provide the most rigid constraints. Lock these in first to narrow down the possible positions for every other domino.
Key Insight: The pink (not equal) zones overlap with multiple other colored zones. Every domino that touches a pink zone must have a unique value on its pink-side pip, which cascades constraints across the entire grid.
Watch Out For: The navy (=) zone appears in three separate positions. You need three dominoes inside it, all with matching pip values. The 2/2 domino is the only double that fits, but you also need two other dominoes whose navy-side values equal each other. The 1/2 and 5/2 placements with 2 on the navy side are the key.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the purple (0) zones. You have three purple zones requiring a 0 pip. Place 0/5 vertically with 0 in purple (0) and 5 in orange (10). Place 0/2 horizontally with 0 in purple (0) and 2 in pink (not equal). Place 0/0 horizontally in the remaining purple (0) zone. All three zero conditions are satisfied.
- 2.Move to the teal (=) zones. You need dominoes with matching values on both sides. Place 4/4 horizontally in one teal (=) zone. Place 4/0 vertically so the 4 sits in the second teal (=) zone and 0 crosses into green (0). Place 4/5 vertically with 4 in the third teal (=) zone and 5 in purple (10). All teal zones now contain a domino with value 4.
- 3.Now tackle the orange zones. Orange (10) needs dominoes summing to 10. The 0/5 placement contributes 5. The 4/5 placement contributes another 5. That's 5+5=10. Orange (2) needs dominoes summing to 2. Place 3/1 vertically with 1 in orange (2). Place 1/2 horizontally with 2 in orange (2). The 1+2=3... that's too much. Check: 3/1 gives 1 in orange (2). 1/2 gives 2 in orange (2). 1+2=3. Revisit: the 3/1 domino has 3 in pink (3) and 1 in orange (2). The 1/2 domino has 1 in orange (2) and 2 in navy (=). So orange (2) gets values 1 and 1 = 2. Correct.
- 4.Handle the pink (not equal) zones. Every value in each pink zone must be unique. Place 0/2 horizontally (0 in pink). Place 5/3 horizontally (5 and 3 in pink). Place 1/4 horizontally (1 and 4 in pink). Place 1/6 vertically (1 and 6 in pink). Place 3/1 vertically (3 in pink). Place 2/4 vertically (4 in pink). Verify: pink zone values are {0,2,5,3,1,4,6} - all unique. Second pink zone gets {3,1,4} - all unique.
- 5.Address the navy (=) zone. You need all dominoes in this zone to have the same value on their navy side. Place 5/2 vertically (2 in navy). Place 1/2 horizontally (2 in navy). Place 2/2 horizontally (2 in navy). All three dominoes have value 2 on the navy side. Condition satisfied.
- 6.Finish the remaining zones. Green (0) gets the 0 from 4/0 vertically. Green (3) gets the 3 from 3/0 horizontally. Teal (6) gets the 6 from 1/6 vertically. Pink (3) gets the 3 from 3/1 vertically. Pink (4) gets the 4 from 2/4 vertically. Navy (1) gets the 1 from 1/4 horizontally. All conditions are met and all dominoes are placed.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the purple (0) zone and orange (10) zone
- 2.Place the 0/2 domino horizontally in the purple (0) zone and pink (not equal) zone
- 3.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone
- 4.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the orange (10) zone and pink (not equal) zone
- 5.Place the 1/4 domino horizontally in the navy (1) zone and pink (not equal) zone
- 6.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the pink (not equal) zone and teal (6) zone
- 7.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and green (0) zone
- 8.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and purple (10) zone
- 9.Place the 3/1 domino vertically in the pink (3) zone and orange (2) zone
- 10.Place the 5/2 domino vertically in the purple (10) zone and navy (=) zone
- 11.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the orange (2) zone and navy (=) zone
- 12.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
- 13.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the green (3) zone and purple (0) zone
- 14.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the purple (0) zone
- 15.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone and pink (4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge across all three tiers, though the Hard puzzle demands the most careful planning.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The navy (=) zone appearing in three positions is the hidden trap. Most players try to use three different values before realizing all three dominoes must share the same pip value on the navy side. The 2/2 double is the obvious play, but spotting that the 1/2 and 5/2 dominoes also contribute a 2 to the navy zone requires looking ahead several moves.
Our Take: Monday's set rewards players who think in constraints rather than individual placements. The zone overlap is heavy in all three puzzles, which means a bad early move cascades into an unsolvable grid fast. The Easy puzzle gives you enough breathing room to learn this lesson, while Hard punishes you for missing it. Solid Monday workout.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
