Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set features a balanced progression from straightforward placements to complex conditional logic. 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 zone requiring exactly 6 pips - it's your most constrained placement.
Key Insight: The pink and teal zones both require equal values, creating a natural pairing for dominoes that can satisfy both conditions simultaneously.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 6/1 domino horizontally in the purple (6) zone
- 2.Place the 6/2 domino horizontally in the pink (=) and teal (=) zone
- 3.Place the 6/4 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and orange (7) zone
- 4.Place the 2/0 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and navy (5) zone
- 5.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the orange (7) zone and navy (5) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Focus on the teal zone requiring exactly 10 pips - it's your only double-digit requirement.
Key Insight: The purple zones have opposite constraints: one requires less than 6, the other exactly 0. This creates a strategic tension you'll need to resolve.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 3/2 domino vertically in the purple (<6) zone and pink (<7) zone
- 2.Place the 6/4 domino vertically in the pink (<7) zone
- 3.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the teal (10) zone
- 4.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in the orange (6) zone and navy (5) zone
- 5.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the navy (5) zone and green (5) zone
- 6.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the orange (6) zone and purple (0) zone
- 7.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the green (5) zone and purple (0) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Tackle the purple (9) zone first - it's your highest exact requirement and will dictate several placements.
Key Insight: Multiple zones have inequality constraints (< and >) that create dependencies. You'll need to satisfy these in sequence.
Watch Out For: The purple (=) zone requires all equal values - this will force specific domino choices. Also, zones with zero requirements must connect appropriately.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 5/4 domino vertically in the purple (9) zone
- 2.Place the 4/2 domino vertically in the pink (4) zone
- 3.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the teal (>9) zone
- 4.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the orange (6) zone and navy (<4) zone
- 5.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the green (2) zone and orange (<3) zone
- 6.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone and navy (<4) zone
- 7.Place the 1/2 domino vertically in the pink (<4) zone
- 8.Place the 5/3 domino vertically in the teal (>4) zone and green (<4) zone
- 9.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone
- 10.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the pink (8) zone
- 11.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the teal (5) zone
- 12.Place the 5/6 domino vertically in the orange (>4) zone and navy (>4) zone
- 13.Place the 0/3 domino vertically in the green (0) zone and orange (<4) zone
- 14.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the purple (1) zone
- 15.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone
- 16.Place the 5/2 domino vertically in the teal (5) zone and navy (<3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with clear progression from simple to complex logic.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The combination of exact requirements, inequality constraints, and the all-equal purple zone creates multiple interdependent decisions that must be solved in correct sequence.
Our Take: Today's puzzles demonstrate excellent design progression. The Easy puzzle teaches zone bridging with equal-value conditions. Medium introduces inequality constraints and zero-value management. Hard combines everything with exact requirements, inequalities, and the challenging all-equal zone. The logical dependencies in Hard require careful sequencing but remain solvable with systematic approach.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
