Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup is a well-balanced mix: the Easy puzzle serves as a gentle introduction, Medium tightens the constraints, and Hard demands sharp spatial reasoning across all fourteen zones. 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 equal-sign zones are non-negotiable constraints. Solve orange (=), pink (=), green (=), and navy (=) first. Their values cascade into every adjacent zone and determine which dominoes can bridge the gaps.
Key Insight: The exact-number zones (purple 10, navy 12, green 12) are your sum targets. Track running totals carefully. Purple (10) gets solved early with the 5/2 and 5/4 placements, but green (12) requires multiple dominoes to accumulate the right sum. Navy (12) is the easiest since a single 6/6 handles it.
Watch Out For: The purple (4), purple (3), and pink (3) zones are easy to misread. Purple (4) means pips must be less than 4, so valid values are 0, 1, 2, or 3. Purple (3) means less than 3, so valid values are 0, 1, or 2. Pink (3) follows the same rule. A pip showing 3 cannot go into any of these zones. Double-check your orientation before committing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the orange (=) zone. Place the 2/2 vertically. This is the only move that establishes orange's equal value immediately without creating conflicts. Every subsequent placement that touches orange must include a pip of 2.
- 2.Place the 5/2 vertically across purple (10) and orange (=). The 5 goes into purple, the 2 into orange. Purple now has 5 toward its target of 10. Orange's 2 matches its equal condition.
- 3.Place the 5/4 horizontally across purple (10) and pink (=). Purple now totals 5+5=10, exactly met. The 4 lands in pink, establishing 4 as pink's equal value. This is a critical constraint: every domino in pink must now include a 4.
- 4.Place the 4/2 horizontally across pink (=) and teal (2). The 4 matches pink's equal condition. The 2 satisfies teal's exact-number requirement. This bridges two zones cleanly.
- 5.Place the 6/6 horizontally in navy (12). Double-6 sums to 12, satisfying the exact-number condition instantly. Navy is solved.
- 6.Place the 0/0 horizontally in green (=). This establishes 0 as green's equal value. Every domino in green must include a 0 from this point forward.
- 7.Place the 1/3 horizontally across purple (4) and pink (3). The 1 is less than 4, satisfying purple. The 3 is valid for pink (3).
- 8.Place the 2/3 horizontally across orange (=) and purple (4). The 2 matches orange. The 3 is less than 4, satisfying purple.
- 9.Place the 2/6 vertically across orange (=) and green (12). The 2 matches orange. The 6 goes into green, which requires exactly 12 total. Green now has 0 (from the 0/0) + 6 = 6, with more to come.
- 10.Place the 0/4 horizontally across purple (4) and navy (=). The 0 is valid for purple. The 4 matches navy's equal condition, locking 4 as the value for all navy pips.
- 11.Place the 6/4 horizontally across green (12) and navy (=). Green now totals 0+6+6=12, exactly met. The 4 matches navy.
- 12.Place the 4/3 horizontally across navy (=) and purple (3). The 4 matches navy. The 3 is valid for purple (3).
- 13.Place the 4/1 vertically across teal (4) and orange (2). The 4 satisfies teal's exact-4 condition. The 1 satisfies orange's less-than-2 condition.
- 14.Place the 0/1 vertically across green (=) and orange (2). The 0 matches green's equal condition. The 1 satisfies orange.
- 15.Place the 0/2 vertically across orange (2) and pink (2). The 0 satisfies orange. The 2 satisfies pink. All dominoes placed, all conditions met.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone
- 2.Place the 5/2 domino vertically in the purple (10) zone and orange (=) zone
- 3.Place the 5/4 domino horizontally in the purple (10) zone and pink (=) zone
- 4.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and teal (2) zone
- 5.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the navy (12) zone
- 6.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone
- 7.Place the 1/3 domino horizontally in the purple (4) zone and pink (3) zone
- 8.Place the 2/3 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and purple (4) zone
- 9.Place the 2/6 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and green (12) zone
- 10.Place the 0/4 domino horizontally in the purple (4) zone and navy (=) zone
- 11.Place the 6/4 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone and navy (=) zone
- 12.Place the 4/3 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone and purple (3) zone
- 13.Place the 4/1 domino vertically in the teal (4) zone and orange (2) zone
- 14.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the green (=) zone and orange (2) zone
- 15.Place the 0/2 domino vertically in the orange (2) zone and pink (2) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate set. The equal-sign zones provide strong structural constraints that guide placement, but the exact-number zones require careful arithmetic to avoid painting yourself into a corner.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The interplay between the four equal-sign zones (orange, pink, green, navy) and the exact-number zones creates a constraint web that demands careful planning. Misplace one domino and the ripple effect can invalidate multiple zones simultaneously.
Our Take: Today's grid is a masterclass in domino chain reactions. The equal-sign zones act as fixed anchors, but their values propagate outward through shared dominoes, creating dependencies that reward players who think two moves ahead. The purple (10) and green (12) exact-number zones are the real pressure points -- miss those totals and the whole solution unravels.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
