Sunday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles with a balanced mix of zone conditions across all three difficulty levels. Today's set rewards players who prioritize exact-number and equal-sign zones first, with the Hard puzzle demanding particularly precise domino placement.
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 (=) zone is your only forced placement. Every other zone requires careful cross-referencing of adjacent conditions.
Key Insight: The navy (9) zone is a single-domino constraint. That 4/5 placement ripples through the rest of the grid, affecting which dominoes are available for every other zone.
Watch Out For: The pink (≠) zone touches multiple other zones. It's easy to accidentally duplicate a pip value here. Double-check that all five dominoes in this zone have different numbers before finalizing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone. This is the only domino with matching pips, making it a forced placement for the equal-sign condition. This also opens up the adjacent orange (6) zone for the 0/6 domino.
- 2.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the navy (9) zone. This is the only domino pair that sums to 9. With this placed, you remove the 4 and 5 tiles from the pool for other zones.
- 3.Now address the pink (2) zone. It needs exactly two pips total. Place the 1/2 domino horizontally so the 2 lands in pink and the 1 extends into teal (5). Place the 1/3 domino horizontally so the 2 lands in pink and the 3 extends into orange (5). This satisfies pink's condition with two dominoes.
- 4.Place the 2/3 domino vertically across the purple (2) zone and teal (5) zone. The 2 satisfies purple's exact condition, and the 3 contributes to teal's total of 5.
- 5.Place the 2/5 domino vertically across the orange (5) zone and green (5) zone. Both zones need exactly 5 total pips, and this domino covers both simultaneously.
- 6.Tackle the pink (≠) zone. This is the trickiest zone, it requires five different pip values across the dominoes that touch it. Place the 0/3 horizontally linking the purple (=) zone and pink (≠) zone.
- 7.Place the 2/2 vertically in the pink (≠) zone and green (2) zone. The 2 is a new value for pink (≠), keeping the distinct-value condition intact.
- 8.Place the 1/6 vertically in the pink (≠) zone and purple (6) zone. The 1 and 6 are both new values for pink (≠), bringing the total distinct values to four.
- 9.Place the 0/5 horizontally in the pink (≠) zone and teal (10) zone. This adds the 5 as the fifth distinct value in pink (≠), completing the condition.
- 10.Place the 5/1 horizontally in the teal (10) zone and orange (3) zone. The 5 goes into teal (10) and the 1 goes into orange (3), satisfying both conditions.
- 11.Place the 2/0 vertically in the orange (3) zone and teal (0) zone. The 2 goes into orange (3) and the 0 satisfies teal's exact-0 condition.
- 12.Place the 3/4 vertically in the navy (3) zone and pink (7) zone. The 3 satisfies navy's exact condition, and the 4 contributes to pink's total of 7.
- 13.Place the 3/5 vertically in the pink (7) zone and navy (5) zone. The 3 adds to pink's total (4+3=7), and the 5 satisfies navy's exact condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone
- 2.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the navy (9) zone
- 3.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the pink (2) zone and teal (5) zone
- 4.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in the pink (2) zone and orange (5) zone
- 5.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone and teal (5) zone
- 6.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the orange (5) zone and green (5) zone
- 7.Place the 0/3 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (≠) zone
- 8.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and orange (6) zone
- 9.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the pink (≠) zone and green (2) zone
- 10.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the pink (≠) zone and purple (6) zone
- 11.Place the 0/5 domino horizontally in the pink (≠) zone and teal (10) zone
- 12.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally in the teal (10) zone and orange (3) zone
- 13.Place the 2/0 domino vertically in the orange (3) zone and teal (0) zone
- 14.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the navy (3) zone and pink (7) zone
- 15.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in the pink (7) zone and navy (5) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. While all three difficulties share the same zone layout and domino set, the Hard puzzle demands more careful sequencing and attention to the not-equal condition in the pink zone.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The pink (≠) zone is the bottleneck. It requires five distinct pip values across multiple dominoes that also must satisfy adjacent zone conditions. One wrong placement here cascades into a full restart.
Our Take: Today's set is a solid Sunday spread. The zone layout rewards players who identify forced placements early -- the purple (=) and navy (9) zones are your best friends. The Hard puzzle's real challenge isn't the domino count, it's managing the intersecting constraints around the pink not-equal zone. Clean placement there and the rest falls into place.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
