Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set features a mix of exact number requirements and equality conditions that will test your domino placement strategy. 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
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the purple (1) zone - it needs exactly one pip, which means a domino with a 1 on one side must be placed there.
Key Insight: The 5/1 domino is your only domino with a 1 that can connect to two zones simultaneously.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the purple (1) zone
- 2.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone
- 4.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone
- 5.Place the 5/1 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and navy (1) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Look at the purple (6) zone - it needs exactly 6 pips total, which means you'll need to combine dominoes here.
Key Insight: The 6/6 domino is your highest-value piece and must go in the uncolored zone since it doesn't fit any exact number requirements.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in the purple (6) zone
- 2.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone
- 3.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone
- 4.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the teal (2) zone
- 5.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the orange (10) zone
- 6.Place the 6/6 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the purple (6) and pink (3) zones - they share a border where you can place a domino that contributes to both requirements.
Key Insight: The teal (16) zone is your largest requirement - you'll need multiple dominoes with high values to reach 16 total pips.
Watch Out For: The orange (=) zone at the end requires all equal pips - save a double domino for this spot.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 6/0 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and pink (3) zone
- 2.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the pink (3) zone
- 3.Place the 0/2 domino horizontally in the teal (4) zone
- 4.Place the 2/6 domino vertically in the teal (4) zone and orange (6) zone
- 5.Place the 1/0 domino horizontally in the navy (2) zone
- 6.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the navy (2) zone and teal (16) zone
- 7.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the teal (16) zone
- 8.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone and purple (1) zone
- 9.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone
- 10.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the purple (1) zone
- 11.Place the 3/4 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone
- 12.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the pink (10) zone and navy (4) zone
- 13.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with a good progression from simple equality conditions to complex exact number requirements.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the teal (16) zone requires careful domino selection and placement, while managing multiple interconnected zone requirements.
Our Take: Today's puzzles effectively teach domino placement strategy, starting with basic equality conditions in Easy, introducing exact number requirements in Medium, and combining both with high-value targets in Hard. The Hard puzzle's teal (16) zone is particularly satisfying to solve once you realize you need the 5/5 and 1/6 dominoes working together.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
