Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. A solid Saturday spread with consistent zone layouts across all three difficulty levels -- expect tight number constraints and multiple equal-value zones that demand careful domino distribution. 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 (5), teal (10), and green (7) exact-number zones are your anchors. Solve these first to lock in the grid's structure before dealing with the equal-value zones.
Key Insight: The two pink (=) zones and navy (=) zone are where most solvers get stuck. Pay close attention to which dominoes cross zone boundaries -- the 2/0, 6/0, and 5/0 dominoes all feed 0s into pink (=) zones, and those 0s constrain what else can go there.
Watch Out For: The teal (=) zone sits at the bottom of the grid and must be filled with a single value. The 0/4 and 4/4 dominoes are the only way to satisfy it -- place the 4/4 vertically to lock in all-4s, and make sure the 0/4's 4 crosses into teal (=) correctly.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Open with purple (5). Place the 1/1 domino horizontally -- that's 2 pips used, 3 remaining cells to fill in this zone.
- 2.Place the 2/0 domino vertically. The 2 goes into purple (5), bringing the total to 4. The 0 crosses into the first pink (=) zone -- this is critical because it establishes 0 as the equal value for that pink zone.
- 3.Place the 1/4 domino vertically. The 1 lands in purple (5), hitting exactly 5 pips total. The 4 crosses into teal (10), giving teal a good start toward its sum of 10.
- 4.Move to teal (10). You have a 4 from the previous step. Place the 6/0 domino horizontally with the 6 in teal (10) -- that makes 4+6 = 10, exactly satisfying teal (10). The 0 crosses into the first pink (=) zone, reinforcing the all-0s requirement there.
- 5.Hit orange (>1). Place the 2/5 domino horizontally. The 2 goes in orange (>1) -- 2 > 1, satisfied. The 5 goes into navy (=), starting that zone's equal-value requirement.
- 6.Fill green (7) with the 4/3 domino horizontally. 4+3 = 7 exactly. Green is done.
- 7.Anchor navy (=) with the 5/5 domino horizontally. Both cells read 5, establishing the equal value for this zone.
- 8.Place the 5/0 domino vertically. The 5 stays in navy (=), maintaining the all-5s. The 0 crosses into the second pink (=) zone, setting that zone's equal value to 0 as well.
- 9.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally across navy (=) and purple (>0). Navy stays at 5. Purple (>0) gets a 1 -- since 1 > 0, satisfied.
- 10.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the first pink (=) zone. All cells in this pink zone are now 0, matching the equal-value condition.
- 11.Place the 0/4 domino horizontally. The 0 goes into the second pink (=) zone, completing the all-0s there. The 4 crosses into teal (=), which needs all cells to be the same value.
- 12.Finish with the 4/4 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone. All cells in teal (=) are now 4, satisfying the equal-value condition. Every domino placed, every condition met.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the purple (5) zone
- 2.Place the 2/0 domino vertically in the purple (5) zone and pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the purple (5) zone and teal (10) zone
- 4.Place the 6/0 domino horizontally in the teal (10) zone and pink (=) zone
- 5.Place the 2/5 domino horizontally in the orange (>1) zone and navy (=) zone
- 6.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone
- 7.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the green (7) zone
- 8.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
- 9.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 10.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone and purple (>0) zone
- 11.Place the 0/4 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (=) zone
- 12.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate set. The zone layouts are identical across all three difficulties, so the challenge ramps up through subtler placement constraints rather than new zones. Saturday solvers will find this approachable but not trivial.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The dual pink (=) zones and the teal (=) zone create a cascade of zero-value constraints that can trip you up. If you don't notice that three separate dominoes (2/0, 6/0, 5/0) all feed 0s into the pink zones, you might try placing a non-zero domino there and lock yourself out of a solution.
Our Take: A clean, well-structured Saturday set. The zone conditions are fair -- no gotcha mechanics, just solid logical deduction. The Hard puzzle rewards players who methodically satisfy exact-number zones first and let the equal-value zones resolve from the leftovers. Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
