Sunday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's grid serves up a balanced challenge across all three difficulty levels, with the same zone layout demanding different strategic approaches. 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 green (=) zone is your only guaranteed single-domino placement. Everything else requires careful boundary tracking across multiple zones.
Key Insight: Zone boundaries matter more than domino totals. A domino that crosses two zones contributes different pip values to each zone. Track each zone's running total independently.
Watch Out For: The navy (6) zone and the two pink zones (pink (=) and pink (6)) are adjacent to multiple other zones. It's easy to lose track of which pip belongs to which zone. Double-check every boundary crossing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 6/6 horizontally in the green (=) zone. This is the only domino that satisfies the equal-condition zone on its own. Lock it in first to reduce complexity.
- 2.Place the 1/1 vertically across purple (6) and navy (6). Each zone gets one pip from this domino. Purple now has 1 toward its target of 6. Navy has 1 toward its target of 6.
- 3.Place the 5/3 horizontally across purple (6) and pink (=). The 5 goes to purple (1+5=6, satisfied). The 3 goes to pink (=), setting the required value for all remaining pink (=) cells.
- 4.Place the 3/3 horizontally across pink (=) and teal (7). Both 3s sit in pink (=), confirming all pink (=) cells are 3. Teal gets one 3 toward its target of 7.
- 5.Place the 4/3 horizontally across teal (7) and orange (7). Teal now has 3+4=7, satisfied. Orange gets 3 toward its target of 7.
- 6.Place the 4/6 vertically across orange (7) and purple (=). Orange gets 4 (3+4=7, satisfied). Purple (=) gets 6, setting the required value for all remaining purple (=) cells.
- 7.Place the 6/0 vertically across purple (=) and the uncolored zone. Purple (=) satisfied with the 6. The 0 goes to the free space.
- 8.Place the 5/4 vertically across navy (6) and pink (6). Navy gets 5 (1+5=6, satisfied). Pink (6) gets 4 toward its target of 6.
- 9.Place the 2/4 horizontally across pink (6) and orange (6). Pink (6) now has 4+2=6, satisfied. Orange (6) gets 4 toward its target of 6.
- 10.Place the 6/2 vertically across teal (6) and orange (6). Teal (6) gets 6, satisfied. Orange (6) gets 2 (4+2=6, satisfied). All conditions met.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
---
---
---
---
---
- 1.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the purple (6) zone and the navy (6) zone
- 2.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the purple (6) zone and the pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and the teal (7) zone
- 4.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the teal (7) zone and the orange (7) zone
- 5.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the orange (7) zone and the purple (=) zone
- 6.Place the 6/0 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and the uncolored (no condition) zone
- 7.Place the 5/4 domino vertically in the navy (6) zone and the pink (6) zone
- 8.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone
- 9.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in the pink (6) zone and the orange (6) zone
- 10.Place the 6/2 domino vertically in the teal (6) zone and the orange (6) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge across the board. The zone layout is identical for all three difficulties, so the real difference comes down to how much guidance you get.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The zone boundaries create a web of interdependencies. The pink (=) zone and the purple (=) zone both cascade constraints across multiple adjacent zones, and one misstep with the vertical 1/1 in the purple-navy bridge can throw off both exact-number totals.
Our Take: Today's layout rewards methodical boundary tracking over brute-force trial and error. The equal-condition zones (green, pink, purple) act as constraint anchors that make the puzzle solvable through deduction alone. A solid Sunday workout for intermediate players.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
