Monday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's board runs a tight 15-domino set across all three difficulties, built around strict equality zones and a pair of exact-sum traps that punish careless sequencing. We've got a spoiler-free hint for each of the Easy, Medium, and Hard puzzles.
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
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The 15-domino board is a solid Monday set, but the exact-sum zones and the sum-threshold region force more deliberate sequencing than the typical opener.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The exact-sum zone is the trap. It accepts only one domino combination, so burning the wrong high-value domino elsewhere early paints you into a corner with no way back. The sum-threshold zone is a close second because it takes only two placements, forcing you to commit your strongest dominoes there before anything else.
Our Take: Clean, tight board. The zone conditions touch every mechanic in the game, so this is a good all-rounder for sharpening your straddle awareness. The lesson today: solve the exact-sum and equality zones first, then let the threshold zones fall into place.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
