Thursday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup leans into familiar territory with zone conditions built around numeric equality and inequality constraints across three difficulties. The grid rewards methodical placement and careful reading of each colored zone's requirement. 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 navy (>7) and teal (6) zones are your highest-constraint zones. Calculate which domino combinations sum to exactly 7-plus for navy and exactly 6 for teal before placing anything else.
Key Insight: Multiple pink (3) zones appear across the grid. Track which ones already have 3s placed and which still need them. A pink zone with only non-3 pips will fail its condition unless you correct it with a 3-valued domino.
Watch Out For: The purple (>3) and teal (<3) zones sit close together. It's easy to accidentally place a domino that satisfies one but violates the other. Double-check every boundary placement before committing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Identify all pink (3) zones first. These require every pip in the zone to equal exactly 3. Any domino landing in a pink (3) zone must have a 3 on that side. Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in one pink (3) zone - both sides are 1, so this zone will need additional 3s from other dominoes to satisfy its condition.
- 2.The orange (>3) zone adjacent to a pink (3) zone needs pips greater than 3. Place the 0/4 domino vertically so the 4 lands in orange (>3). The 0 goes into the pink (3) zone, which seems wrong, but this pink zone will get 3s from the 4/3 and 2/3 dominoes placed nearby.
- 3.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally across purple (>3) and pink (3). The 4 is greater than 3, satisfying purple. The 3 equals 3, satisfying pink. This is the kind of dual-satisfaction placement you want to find early.
- 4.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in teal (<3) and purple (3). The 2 is less than 3, satisfying teal. The 3 equals 3, satisfying purple. Another clean boundary placement.
- 5.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in orange (<3) and pink (3). The 2 is less than 3. The 1 in pink (3) means this pink zone still needs a 3 from elsewhere.
- 6.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in green (<3) and teal (>4). The 2 is less than 3, the 5 is greater than 4. Both conditions are satisfied cleanly.
- 7.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the purple (3) zone. Both pips are 3, which perfectly satisfies the equality condition. This locks down the purple (3) zone completely.
- 8.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in navy (>7) and green (<2). The 3 goes into navy (>7) and the 1 satisfies green (<2). The navy zone still needs more pips to reach its >7 total.
- 9.Place the 5/4 domino vertically in navy (>7) and teal (6). The 5 and 4 together add 9 to navy, pushing it well past 7. The 4 contributes to teal's exact-6 requirement.
- 10.Place the 2/6 domino horizontally in teal (6) and navy (6). Both zones need exact totals, and these pips help reach the required sums.
- 11.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in pink (6) and orange (3).
- 12.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in orange (3) and the uncolored zone to complete the grid.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the pink (3) zone
- 2.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the pink (3) zone and the orange (>3) zone
- 3.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the purple (>3) zone and the pink (3) zone
- 4.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the teal (<3) zone and the purple (3) zone
- 5.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the orange (<3) zone and the pink (3) zone
- 6.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the green (<3) zone and the teal (>4) zone
- 7.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the purple (3) zone
- 8.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in the navy (>7) zone and the green (<2) zone
- 9.Place the 5/4 domino vertically in the navy (>7) zone and the teal (6) zone
- 10.Place the 2/6 domino horizontally in the teal (6) zone and the navy (6) zone
- 11.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in the pink (6) zone and the orange (3) zone
- 12.Place the 2/4 domino horizontally in the orange (3) zone and the uncolored (no condition) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. All three difficulty levels share the same zone layout and domino set today, which means the difference comes down to how much guidance you get rather than the puzzle configuration itself.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The navy (>7) and teal (6) exact-sum zones create the most friction. You need to track cumulative pip totals across multiple dominoes while also satisfying every other zone's condition. One wrong placement in the navy zone cascades through the entire grid.
Our Take: Today's set is a solid test of fundamentals. The pink (3) zones force you to think about how multiple dominoes share a single zone, and the boundary-spanning placements reward careful planning. If you solved Hard without hints, you've got the logic down cold.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
