Sunday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set spans all three difficulties with a shared zone layout built around a heavy concentration of orange (7) requirements and tight conditional zones that reward methodical placement.
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 orange (7) cluster is the heart of the board, and with five dominoes feeding it, every placement there must be deliberate. Lock the exact-number zones first: purple (15) and orange (7) are non-negotiable anchors.
Key Insight: The three = zones (teal, orange, navy) must each hold a single matching pip value across all their cells. That forces specific dominoes into those slots before you can freely play the conditional zones around them.
Watch Out For: The green (2) and green (<2) zones look similar but have different constraints. Green (2) must total exactly 2, while green (<2) must be less than 2, which means it only accepts 0 or 1.
Mixing those up is the most common mistake on this board.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Anchor the top-left corner. Place the 1/0 domino vertically with the 1 half in the uncolored zone and the 0 half in the navy (0) zone. With the 0 requirement locked, no other domino can start here.
- 2.Build the purple (15) column. Drop the 0/6 from the navy (0) zone, then stack the 3/4 into the teal (4) zone and the 6/3 into the orange (<4) zone.
- 3.Lock the isolated doubles. The 1/1 goes vertically into the pink (2) zone, and the 4/4 goes vertically into the teal (=) zone. Both zones are single cells, so these placements are forced.
- 4.Resolve the orange (=) zone. Place the 6/4 vertically with its top half in the purple (8) zone, then extend the 4/2 horizontally into the green (2) zone and the 4/5 vertically into the navy (=) zone. Orange (=) now holds a uniform value across all its cells.
- 5.Complete the purple (8) zone with the 2/6 domino placed horizontally into the pink (>5) zone, and bridge the navy (=) zone into the green (>5) zone with the 5/6 domino horizontally. Check that every = zone holds a single repeated value.
- 6.Clear the orange (7) cluster methodically. Place the 3/1 vertically into the purple (<4) zone, the 2/2 vertically into the navy (<3) zone, the 5/1 vertically into the pink (>4) zone, the 2/1 vertically into the green (<2) zone, and the 6/1 vertically into the teal (>5) zone. Each orange (7) cell now totals exactly 7, and every neighbor condition passes.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/0 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and navy (0) zone
- 2.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the navy (0) zone and purple (15) zone
- 3.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the purple (15) zone and teal (4) zone
- 4.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the purple (15) zone and orange (<4) zone
- 5.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the pink (2) zone
- 6.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
- 7.Place the 6/4 domino vertically in the purple (8) zone and orange (=) zone
- 8.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and green (2) zone
- 9.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and navy (=) zone
- 10.Place the 2/6 domino horizontally in the purple (8) zone and pink (>5) zone
- 11.Place the 5/6 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone and green (>5) zone
- 12.Place the 3/1 domino vertically in the purple (<4) zone and orange (7) zone
- 13.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the orange (7) zone and navy (<3) zone
- 14.Place the 5/1 domino vertically in the pink (>4) zone and orange (7) zone
- 15.Place the 2/1 domino vertically in the orange (7) zone and green (<2) zone
- 16.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in the teal (>5) zone and orange (7) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. Today's three difficulties share a single zone layout, so the jump from Easy to Hard is mostly about pressure and precision rather than new mechanics.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The green (2) and green (<2) zones are easy to conflate. Green (2) demands an exact total of 2, while green (<2) only accepts a zero or one half.
Misreading those two conditions is the fastest way to brick the orange (7) cluster.
Our Take: The orange (7) cluster is the real star of this board. Five dominoes feed into it, and every one of them doubles as a solution to a neighboring conditional zone.
The = zones do the heavy lifting early, but the orange (7) cluster decides whether you finish clean or burn your undo button. Solid Sunday puzzle, tighter than it looks at first glance.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
