Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set offers a smooth progression from straightforward placements to complex zone interactions, with the Hard puzzle presenting a significant spatial reasoning challenge. 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 teal zone requiring exactly 7 pips - this zone's exact number requirement gives you limited placement options.
Key Insight: The purple zone needs exactly 0 pips, which means you'll need dominoes with 0 values to satisfy this condition without affecting adjacent zones.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 1/5 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone
- 2.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the purple (0) zone and teal (7) zone
- 3.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the pink (5) zone
- 4.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the orange (4) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Focus on the teal zone with the "=" condition - all pips in this zone must be equal, which creates strong constraints.
Key Insight: The three zones requiring exactly 10 pips (pink, orange, green) will need domino combinations that sum to 10, often requiring dominoes to span multiple zones.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone
- 2.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone and teal (=) zone
- 3.Place the 1/2 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and navy (2) zone
- 4.Place the 5/4 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone and orange (10) zone
- 5.Place the 3/6 domino horizontally in the orange (10) zone
- 6.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the navy (2) zone and green (10) zone
- 7.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the green (10) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the zones requiring exactly 1 pip (purple, navy, teal) - these create tight constraints that dictate domino placement.
Key Insight: Multiple pink zones require exactly 10 pips each - you'll need to carefully allocate dominoes to satisfy all these high-value requirements without conflicting with adjacent zones.
Watch Out For: The interconnected web of zones means dominoes will often span multiple conditions. Pay close attention to how each domino affects all the zones it touches, not just its primary placement.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the purple (1) zone and pink (10) zone
- 2.Place the 5/3 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone and teal (3) zone
- 3.Place the 4/1 domino horizontally in the orange (8) zone and navy (1) zone
- 4.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the green (4) zone and purple (3) zone
- 5.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the navy (0) zone and teal (1) zone
- 6.Place the 0/4 domino horizontally in the navy (0) zone and orange (8) zone
- 7.Place the 2/3 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone and navy (3) zone
- 8.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the purple (1) zone and pink (10) zone
- 9.Place the 5/2 domino horizontally in the teal (8) zone and pink (10) zone
- 10.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in the teal (8) zone and orange (1) zone
- 11.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in the pink (10) zone and navy (8) zone
- 12.Place the 2/0 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone and purple (0) zone
- 13.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the navy (8) zone and green (10) zone
- 14.Place the 3/0 domino vertically in the green (3) zone and purple (0) zone
- 15.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the purple (0) zone and green (10) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with clear progression - Easy serves as a warm-up, Medium introduces zone-spanning dominoes, and Hard demands spatial awareness.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the interconnected web of 18 zones with multiple repeating conditions (four pink zones requiring 10 pips each) creates a complex constraint satisfaction problem that requires careful domino allocation.
Our Take: Today's set demonstrates excellent puzzle design progression. The Medium puzzle's "=" condition in the teal zone teaches players about equal-value constraints, which prepares them for Hard's multiple overlapping requirements. The spatial reasoning required in Hard, particularly managing dominoes that affect three or four different zones simultaneously, represents Pips at its most engaging.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
