Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup features the same grid layout across all three difficulty levels, making it a great day to compare strategies between Easy, Medium, and Hard. The zone conditions are nicely varied with exact numbers, greater-than, less-than, and not-equal constraints that reward careful planning. 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: Identical grid to Easy and Medium, but the Hard difficulty introduces tighter constraints. Begin with the exact-number zones -- purple (12) and navy (4) -- as forced placements.
Key Insight: The pink (=) zone and purple (not-equal) zone are the most restrictive. Solving these two zones correctly determines whether the rest of the puzzle falls into place or collapses.
Watch Out For: The teal zone has two conditions: part of it requires values greater than 4, and another part requires values less than 4. Make sure you're placing the right dominoes in the right teal subsection. The 0 and 3 belong in the less-than section, while the 5 goes in the greater-than section.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the purple (12) and navy (4) zones. These are exact-number zones with a shared vertical boundary. Place the 4/4 domino vertically so the 4 lands in navy (satisfying its exact requirement) and the other 4 contributes to purple's total of 12.
- 2.Complete purple (12) by placing the 5/3 domino horizontally. Purple now has 4 + 5 + 3 = 12. This zone is solved.
- 3.Move to the pink (>10) zone. Place the 0/6 domino horizontally across the uncolored zone (no condition) and pink. The 6 starts building pink's total.
- 4.Add the 5/5 domino horizontally across pink (>10) and teal (>4). Pink now totals 6 + 5 + 5 = 16, well above 10. Teal gets a 5, which exceeds 4 -- satisfying that subsection.
- 5.Tackle the orange (<4) zone. Place the 2/1 domino vertically. Both 2 and 1 are under 4, satisfying the condition.
- 6.Address the purple (not-equal) zone. This zone needs all different pip values. Place the 0/4 domino vertically, then the 6/1 domino vertically. The values are 0, 4, 6, and 1 -- all unique. This zone is solved.
- 7.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the green (>10) zone. Total of 12 exceeds 10. Simple.
- 8.Now handle the pink (=) zone and the teal (<4) zone together. Place the 3/0 domino horizontally with the 3 in pink and the 0 in teal. The 0 is under 4, satisfying teal's less-than condition.
- 9.Complete the pink (=) zone by placing the 3/3 domino vertically. Pink now has three 3s -- all equal, satisfying the condition.
- 10.Finish with the orange (10) zone. Place the 4/6 domino horizontally. 4 + 6 = 10, meeting the exact number requirement. All dominoes placed, all conditions satisfied.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the purple (12) zone and navy (4) zone
- 2.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the purple (12) zone
- 3.Place the 0/6 domino horizontally in the uncolored (no condition) zone and pink (>10) zone
- 4.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the pink (>10) zone and teal (>4) zone
- 5.Place the 2/1 domino vertically in the orange (<4) zone
- 6.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the purple (not-equal) zone
- 7.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in the purple (not-equal) zone
- 8.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the green (>10) zone
- 9.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (<4) zone
- 10.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 11.Place the 4/6 domino horizontally in the orange (10) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate day. The grid layout is identical across all three levels, which is unusual. The puzzle logic is consistent, but the Hard mode demands more careful attention to the teal zone's split conditions.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The teal zone has both greater-than-4 and less-than-4 subsections, making it easy to accidentally place a domino that satisfies one side but breaks the other. The pink (=) zone also requires three matching pips, which limits your options to the 3/3 and 3/0 combination.
Our Take: Today's identical grid across all three difficulties is a clever design choice. It lets you focus purely on the strategic differences between difficulty levels rather than learning a new layout each time. The purple (not-equal) zone is the real brain-teaser here -- getting four distinct values while respecting the adjacent zone constraints takes some thinking. Solid Tuesday puzzle set.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
