Saturday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's three difficulties share the same zone layout and solution, making it a consistency test rather than a variety challenge. 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 pink (=) zone is your only forced placement. Every other zone has multiple valid configurations, so lock in the double domino first.
Key Insight: The grid has two navy (3) zones and two purple (3) zones. Track which dominoes cross into each -- the 0-value pips become critical for hitting those exact totals without overshooting.
Watch Out For: The teal (>3) zones look forgiving, but they can trap you if you burn your high-value dominoes too early. Save the 5 and 6 pips for zones that genuinely need them.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the pink (=) zone. Only the 4/4 domino satisfies the equal condition. Place it horizontally so it extends into the teal (>3) zone. This gives you a foothold on both zones.
- 2.Address the purple (6) zone. It shares a border with pink (<3). Place the 5/1 domino horizontally: 5 in purple (6), 1 in pink (<3). The 1 satisfies the less-than-3 condition on the pink side.
- 3.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in purple (6) and green (6). Purple now has 5+1=6, satisfying its exact-6 condition. Green gets a 6 from this domino.
- 4.Work the navy (3) zones. Place the 3/3 domino vertically in teal (6) and navy (3). Then place the 0/6 domino horizontally in navy (3) and green (6).
- 5.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the teal (6) zone. Teal now has 3 (from the 3/3) + 2 + 1 = 6.
- 6.Move to the orange (>3) zones. Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in orange (>3) and navy (3). The 4 is greater than 3, satisfying orange. The 3 contributes to the second navy zone's total of 3.
- 7.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in purple (3) and orange (3). Both values satisfy their zone conditions. Place the 3/1 domino vertically in pink (3) and orange (3).
- 8.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in teal (>3) and purple (3). Both values are greater than 3 or exactly 3. Place the 0/4 domino vertically in purple (3) and pink (=).
- 9.Verify all zones: purple (6) has 5+1, purple (3) has 0+3, pink (<3) has 1, pink (3) has 3, pink (=) has 4+4, green (6) has 6+6, teal (6) has 3+2+1, teal (>3) has 5+4, navy (3) zones have 3+0 and 3+0, orange (>3) zones have 4 and 3.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (>3) zone
- 2.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally in the purple (6) zone and pink (<3) zone
- 3.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and green (6) zone
- 4.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the teal (6) zone and navy (3) zone
- 5.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the navy (3) zone and green (6) zone
- 6.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the teal (6) zone
- 7.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the orange (>3) zone and navy (3) zone
- 8.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in the purple (3) zone and orange (3) zone
- 9.Place the 3/1 domino vertically in the pink (3) zone and orange (3) zone
- 10.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the teal (>3) zone and purple (3) zone.
- 11.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the purple (3) zone and pink (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate day. The zone layout is identical across all three difficulties, which is unusual for Pips. Once you solve one, you've solved them all -- the only difference is the pacing and the pressure of Hard mode's tighter constraints.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The lack of variety between difficulties means Hard doesn't introduce new zones or conditions. The real challenge is avoiding mental fatigue and double-checking every condition, especially the dual navy (3) zones that can quietly break your solution if you misallocate a zero pip.
Our Take: Today's set is a solid consistency drill. Saturday's puzzles reward methodical tracking of zone totals rather than clever pattern recognition. The pink (=) zone with the 4/4 domino is your only truly forced move -- everything else has degrees of freedom that demand careful bookkeeping. Good practice for anyone working on their domino-logic fundamentals.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
