Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's boards lean hard on equal-sign and exact-total zones, so the win comes from constraint ordering rather than guesswork. 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. Equal-sign and exact-total zones dominate the board, which rewards methodical placement over quick guesses.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - the free, uncolored spaces are a trap. They look like easy outs, but they are the flexibility buffer for multi-zone straddle dominoes. Spend them early and the constrained zones lock you out.
Our Take: Today's set is a lesson in constraint ordering. Solve the strictest zones first, let the loose zones absorb the leftovers, and never burn a free space before you have to. Do that and all three difficulties fall in line.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
