Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles built around the same eleven-zone grid at every difficulty. The shared layout runs from a low-pressure purple (<3) opening to the tight teal (>5) and pink (5) closers, so the real challenge shifts from reading the board to sequencing your dominoes. 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 purple (<3) and pink (<2) zones are your hard constraints. Only 1-value pips fit there, so hunt for the dominoes carrying low halves before you spend them elsewhere.
Key Insight: The teal (7) zone is the spine of this puzzle. It pulls in three separate pieces (1, 6, and 0 halves), so the order you place them determines whether you can finish the greater-than-five zone with the double 4/4 at the end.
Watch Out For: The pink (<2) zone is a trap. It reads like a flexible space, but it only accepts a 1, and the only domino that fits there (the 1/4) must be oriented so the 1 lands in pink. Get the orientation wrong and you'll strand the 4 with no valid home.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Begin with the purple (<3) and teal (7) shared edge. Place the 1/1 double vertically here. Both 1s sit safely under the less-than-three cap, and the 1 in teal starts its count toward 7.
- 2.Place the 6/3 domino horizontally across the teal (7) zone and the green (4) zone. The 6 brings teal to 7, and the 3 starts green's exact-4 count.
- 3.Set the 0/5 domino vertically across the teal (7) zone and the orange (>4) zone. The 0 is absorbed harmlessly into the already-complete teal zone, and the 5 clears the greater-than-four bar while opening orange at 5.
- 4.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally across the green (4) zone and the orange (9) zone. Now green hits its exact 4, and orange climbs to 6.
- 5.Drop the 1/4 domino vertically across the pink (<2) zone and the orange (9) zone. The 1 is the only value that satisfies pink's strict cap.
- 6.Place the 3/5 domino vertically across the orange (9) zone and the navy (>4) zone. The 5 clears navy's threshold and brings orange's running total to its full 9.
- 7.Set the 3/1 domino vertically across the navy (3) zone and the purple (=) zone. The 3 matches navy's exact number, and the 1 feeds the equals condition.
- 8.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally across the purple (=) zone and the pink (5) zone. The 1 balances the equals zone against the earlier 1, and the 5 fills pink's first slot.
- 9.Complete the pink (5) zone with the 0/0 double placed vertically. The zeros satisfy the exact-5 total without disturbing it.
- 10.Finish with the 4/4 double in the teal (>5) zone. Both 4s clear the greater-than-five threshold, closing out the board cleanly.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the purple (<3) zone and teal (7) zone
- 2.Place the 6/3 domino horizontally in the teal (7) zone and green (4) zone
- 3.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone and orange (>4) zone
- 4.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the green (4) zone and orange (9) zone
- 5.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the pink (<2) zone and orange (9) zone
- 6.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in the orange (9) zone and navy (>4) zone
- 7.Place the 3/1 domino vertically in the navy (3) zone and purple (=) zone
- 8.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (5) zone
- 9.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the pink (5) zone
- 10.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the teal (>5) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. All three difficulties run the same eleven-zone grid, so the layout won't surprise you. Easy and Medium are clean solves for regular players; Hard raises the stakes by forcing tight orientation calls on the small-value zones.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The pink (<2) zone accepts only a 1, which means the 1/4 domino has exactly one valid orientation. Misplace it and the 4 is stranded with no legal landing zone. The purple (=) condition, meanwhile, forces you to keep two matching 1s in the same zone, which locks down your double 1/1 early.
Our Take: Today's set is a tidy midweek workout that rewards reading the strict conditions before touching a domino. The recurring theme is low-value management: the <3, <2, and = zones all live or die on your 1s and doubles. Once you commit to placing the 1/1 and 0/0 early, the rest of the grid falls into place. Solid practice for anyone still learning to track sum-bucket zones like teal (7) and orange (9).
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
