Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set features a mix of straightforward placements and some clever zone interactions that will test your domino logic. 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
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the orange zone requiring exactly 0 pips - this forces specific domino placement.
Key Insight: The purple, teal, and navy zones all require exactly 6 pips each, creating natural grouping opportunities.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the purple (6) zone
- 2.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the pink (4) zone
- 3.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the teal (6) zone
- 4.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the navy (6) zone
- 5.Place the 0/3 domino vertically in the orange (0) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Focus on the purple zone requiring values less than 5 - this limits your domino choices significantly.
Key Insight: The pink zone requires all equal values, which will force domino placements that share that same value across multiple positions.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 0/5 domino horizontally in the purple (<5) and pink (=) zone
- 2.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone
- 3.Place the 4/6 domino horizontally in the teal (7) zone and orange (10) zone
- 4.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone and navy (7) zone
- 5.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the orange (10) zone and green (>10) zone
- 6.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in the navy (7) zone and purple (=) zone
- 7.Place the 1/6 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and green (>10) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the purple zone requiring exactly 9 pips - this will determine your high-value domino placement.
Key Insight: Multiple zones require equal values (=), creating a complex web of constraints that dominoes must satisfy simultaneously.
Watch Out For: The teal zone has two separate conditions - one requiring equal values and another requiring exactly 3 pips. Don't confuse these separate constraints.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the purple (9) zone and pink (5) zone
- 2.Place the 3/6 domino horizontally in the pink (5) zone
- 3.Place the 6/1 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone
- 4.Place the 5/6 domino vertically in the purple (9) zone and orange (11) zone
- 5.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
- 6.Place the 5/0 domino horizontally in the orange (11) zone and green (=) zone
- 7.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the purple (4) zone and teal (=) zone
- 8.Place the 0/0 domino vertically in the green (=) zone
- 9.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the green (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 10.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and green (=) zone
- 11.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the pink (=) zone
- 12.Place the 2/3 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and orange (7) zone
- 13.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone and orange (7) zone
- 14.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with a clear progression from simple to complex constraints.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The multiple equal-value zones create a web of dependencies that requires careful domino sequencing and placement.
Our Take: Today's puzzles showcase how Pips evolves from basic arithmetic to complex constraint satisfaction. The Hard puzzle's multiple equal-value zones force you to think about domino placement as a system of equations rather than isolated placements. The Medium puzzle offers a satisfying bridge between the two, with its clever use of dominoes spanning multiple zones.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
