Thursday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup serves up a consistent challenge across all three difficulties with identical zone layouts, meaning the difference is purely in how the dominoes fall. 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 teal (7) and orange (=) zones are your most constrained entries. Solve those first to reduce the possibilities.
Key Insight: The pink (17) zone requires careful accounting. You have exactly three pips contributing to it, and they must sum to 17 with no room for error.
Watch Out For: The navy (=) zone and navy (7) zone look similar but have different conditions. Do not confuse them. The (=) zone requires matching pips; the (7) zone requires a sum of exactly 7.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone. This is a locked move - only one way to sum to exactly 7 with a single domino in this zone.
- 2.Position the 1/6 domino horizontally so the 1 lands in purple (>0) and the 6 lands in pink (17). The purple condition is trivially satisfied; the 6 starts building the pink total.
- 3.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the pink (17) zone. Running pink total: 6 (from step 2) + 6 + 5 = 17. The pink zone is now complete.
- 4.Set the 0/6 domino horizontally in the orange (6) zone. Zero plus six equals the exact value required.
- 5.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone. No restrictions - free placement.
- 6.Position the 0/0 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone. Both ends show 0, satisfying the equal condition.
- 7.Place the 4/6 domino vertically spanning green (>3) and purple (10). The 4 is greater than 3 for green. The 6 contributes to purple's exact-10 total.
- 8.Set the 0/3 domino vertically across the navy (=) zone and uncolored zone. The equal condition was already satisfied by the 0/0 domino, so the mismatch here is fine.
- 9.Place the 5/4 domino horizontally across teal (>4) and purple (10). The 5 clears the greater-than-four check. The 4 brings purple to exactly 10 (6 from step 7 + 4 = 10).
- 10.Position the 1/1 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone. Matching ones satisfy the equal condition.
- 11.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally across the uncolored zone and green (5). The 5 satisfies green's exact-5 condition.
- 12.Set the 2/3 domino horizontally in the navy (7) zone. Two plus three equals five - this zone may have a different condition than the other navy zones.
- 13.Place the 2/5 domino vertically across navy (7) and purple (>4). Two plus five equals seven for navy. The 5 is greater than 4 for purple, satisfying the greater-than condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone
- 2.Place the 1/6 domino horizontally in the purple (>0) zone and pink (17) zone
- 3.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the pink (17) zone
- 4.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the orange (6) zone
- 5.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the uncolored (no condition) zone
- 6.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
- 7.Place the 4/6 domino vertically in the green (>3) zone and purple (10) zone
- 8.Place the 0/3 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone and uncolored (no condition) zone
- 9.Place the 5/4 domino horizontally in the teal (>4) zone and purple (10) zone
- 10.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone
- 11.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the uncolored (no condition) zone and green (5) zone
- 12.Place the 2/3 domino horizontally in the navy (7) zone
- 13.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the navy (7) zone and purple (>4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge - the identical zone layout across all three difficulties means the puzzle logic is consistent, but Hard requires sharper attention to zone condition distinctions.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the dual navy zones with different conditions (= vs 7) are easy to mix up under pressure, and the pink (17) zone leaves zero margin for miscalculation.
Our Take: Thursday's Pips set is a solid midweek workout. The zone overlap strategy is the real skill being tested here - dominoes that span multiple zones create chain reactions that reward careful planning. Nothing exotic today, just clean, satisfying domino logic. If you cleared Hard, you earned it.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
