Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set leans on tight constraint zones that reward careful reading before you place a single domino, so patience beats speed. We've got a quick hint and the full solution for each of the Easy, Medium, and Hard puzzles.
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
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the overlapping constraint zones force dominoes to satisfy two conditions at the same time, which punishes any placement made on autopilot.
Our Take: Today's boards are a clean lesson in constraint-first solving. The Easy grid warms you up with obvious anchors, the Medium tightens the squeeze, and the Hard board turns shared dominoes into the real battleground. Read the zones before you move, and the set rewards you.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
