Sunday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. May 24 delivers a well-balanced trio with overlapping zone conditions across three boards. The Easy puzzle eases you in with single-pip zones, Medium adds equal-sign constraints, and Hard introduces greater-than conditions that demand careful domino selection. 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 greater-than conditions on the bottom right board -- green (>11) and purple (>1) -- are your tightest constraints. Green needs a total above 11, which means large pip values are mandatory. Purple just needs any value above 1, which is most dominoes.
Key Insight: The equal-sign zones on the bottom left board (green and orange) require identical values in every cell of that zone. Double dominoes like 4/4 and 3/3 are your only options for these zones.
Watch Out For: Don't use high-value dominoes in the single-pip (1) zones by mistake. Those zones are strict -- only a 1-pip cell can go there. Save your 5s and 6s for the sum-11 and greater-than zones.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Top board: Place the 1/1 domino horizontally across purple (1) and pink (1). Both zones require exactly one pip, and this domino satisfies both cells immediately.
- 2.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in orange (1) and navy (11). The 1 goes into orange. The 6 begins filling navy's 11-pip total.
- 3.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in teal (11). This contributes 6 pips toward teal's sum of 11.
- 4.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally across navy (11) and teal (11). Navy gets 5 (total: 1+5+5=11). Teal gets 5 (total: 6+5=11). Both sums are satisfied.
- 5.Bottom left board: Place the 1/3 domino vertically in pink (1) and orange (=). The 1 satisfies pink. The 3 goes into orange's equal-value zone.
- 6.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in green (=). Both cells show 4, meeting the equal condition without any other options.
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in orange (=). Both cells show 3, matching the existing 3 from step 5. All cells in orange now equal 3.
- 8.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the uncolored zone (no condition) and navy (1). The uncolored zone accepts any value; the 1 satisfies navy's single-pip requirement.
- 9.Place the 3/6 domino horizontally in orange (=) and purple (11). The 3 maintains orange's equal condition. The 6 goes toward purple's 11-pip sum.
- 10.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in pink (1) and purple (11). The 1 satisfies pink. The 5 completes purple's total (6+5=11).
- 11.Bottom right board: Place the 6/5 domino vertically in green (>11) and teal (11). The 5 contributes to teal's sum. Green's total starts accumulating.
- 12.Place the 6/2 domino horizontally in green (>11) and purple (>1). Green now totals 6+6+5=17, which exceeds 11. Purple gets 2, which is greater than 1.
- 13.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in teal (11). Adds 2 to teal's running total.
- 14.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in teal (11) and orange (1). Teal accumulates more pips; the 1 satisfies orange's single-pip condition.
- 15.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in navy (1) and green (>1). The 1 satisfies navy. The 2 satisfies green's greater-than-1 condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the purple (1) zone and pink (1) zone
- 2.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the orange (1) zone and navy (11) zone
- 3.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in the teal (11) zone
- 4.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the navy (11) zone and teal (11) zone
- 5.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the pink (1) zone and orange (=) zone
- 6.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the green (=) zone
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone
- 8.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone and navy (1) zone
- 9.Place the 3/6 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and purple (11) zone
- 10.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the pink (1) zone and purple (11) zone
- 11.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the green (>11) zone and teal (11) zone
- 12.Place the 6/2 domino horizontally in the green (>11) zone and purple (>1) zone
- 13.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the teal (11) zone
- 14.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the teal (11) zone and orange (1) zone
- 15.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the navy (1) zone and green (>1) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone conditions are straightforward but the three-board layout requires careful tracking of which dominoes have been used and where. No single step is hard, but keeping the full picture straight demands attention.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The greater-than conditions on the bottom right board (green >11, purple >1, green >1) create the tightest constraints. You need to reserve your highest pip values for green (>11) while still satisfying the teal (11) sum and the single-pip zones. It's easy to accidentally short-change the green zone's total.
Our Take: Sunday's set is a solid warm-up for the week ahead. The equal-sign zones on the bottom left board teach a useful Pips discipline: always check which dominoes can satisfy a uniform-value condition before committing them elsewhere. Tomorrow's puzzles will likely crank up the complexity, so today's solve is good practice.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
