Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles to start your week. Today's grid features a balanced mix of equal, greater-than, less-than, and not-equal conditions spread across 15 dominoes per difficulty, with the same zone layout across all three levels but escalating strategic demands. 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 (0) zone is your only absolute anchor. Place the 1/0 domino there first, bridging into pink (=), and everything else unfolds from that constraint.
Key Insight: The orange (not-equal) zone touches six different zones and must contain six unique pip values. Track every value placed in orange carefully -- duplicates will break the puzzle.
Watch Out For: The purple zones appear in three separate instances (4, 6, and 2), each with different exact-number requirements. Do not confuse them. Also, the teal (=) zone must match the teal (0) zone's value for consistency, so it must be 0.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Lock in the teal (0) zone first. The 1/0 domino is the only one that can bridge pink (=) and teal (0) with a 0 on the teal side. Place it horizontally. This forces the pink (=) value to 1, since the 4/1 domino also bridges into pink from purple (4).
- 2.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally across purple (4) and pink (=). The 4 satisfies purple's exact-4 condition. The 1 confirms pink's equal-value pattern.
- 3.Place the 1/1 domino entirely within the pink (=) zone. This completes the pink zone with all cells showing 1.
- 4.Now handle the teal (=) zone. Three dominoes bridge into it from orange (>4), navy (<4), and green (4): 5/0, 3/0, and 4/0. All three must share the same value on the teal side. The only consistent value is 0, matching the teal (0) zone. Place all three vertically: 5/0 in orange (>4) and teal (=), 3/0 in navy (<4) and teal (=), 4/0 in green (4) and teal (=).
- 5.Place the 2/6 domino vertically in the uncolored zone and pink (>2) zone. The 6 satisfies the greater-than-2 condition in pink. The uncolored zone has no restrictions.
- 6.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in pink (=) and purple (6). The 1 matches pink's equal value. The 3 goes into purple (6), which needs an exact total of 6 from its two cells.
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in purple (6) and orange (not-equal). The 3 in purple (6) pairs with the adjacent 3 to reach the exact total of 6. In orange (not-equal), this is your first distinct value.
- 8.Place the 6/0 horizontally in navy (6) and orange (not-equal). The 6 satisfies navy's exact-6 condition. In orange (not-equal), 6 is a new distinct value.
- 9.Place the 2/2 vertically in orange (not-equal) and green (2). The 2 satisfies green's exact-2 condition. In orange (not-equal), 2 is a new distinct value.
- 10.Place the 0/2 vertically in teal (=) and purple (2). The 0 matches teal's equal value. The 2 satisfies purple's exact-2 condition.
- 11.Place the 3/5 horizontally in pink (3) and teal (10). The 3 satisfies pink's exact-3 condition. The 5 contributes to teal's exact-10 total.
- 12.Place the 5/5 horizontally in teal (10) and orange (not-equal). The 5+5=10 completes teal's exact-10 requirement. In orange (not-equal), 5 is another distinct value.
- 13.Place the 4/4 horizontally in orange (not-equal) and navy (4). The 4 satisfies navy's exact-4 condition. In orange (not-equal), 4 is the final distinct value -- bringing the total to six unique numbers (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and the 0 from earlier), satisfying the not-equal condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally in the purple (4) zone and pink (=) zone
- 2.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 1/0 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (0) zone
- 4.Place the 2/6 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and pink (>2) zone
- 5.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the orange (>4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 6.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the navy (<4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 7.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the green (4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 8.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and purple (6) zone
- 9.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and orange (not-equal) zone
- 10.Place the 6/0 domino horizontally in the navy (6) zone and orange (not-equal) zone
- 11.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the orange (not-equal) zone and green (2) zone
- 12.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and purple (2) zone
- 13.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the pink (3) zone and teal (10) zone
- 14.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the teal (10) zone and orange (not-equal) zone
- 15.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the orange (not-equal) zone and navy (4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge across all three levels.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The orange (not-equal) zone is the real trap here. With six distinct pip values required across multiple bridging dominoes, one wrong placement cascades into an unsolvable state. The three separate purple zones (4, 6, 2) also demand careful attention since they look identical at a glance but have different exact-number targets.
Our Take: Today's set is a solid Monday workout. The zone layout is identical across all three difficulties, which means solving Easy gives you a roadmap for Medium and Hard -- but the escalating conditions force you to think more carefully about each placement. The orange (not-equal) zone in Hard is the standout challenge, requiring meticulous tracking of used values. A satisfying puzzle for a Monday morning.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
