Tuesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's board leans hard on condition zones, so the real work is matching pip totals to the strict constraints before you touch the free spaces.
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
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The board is dominated by equal-sign and exact-total zones, which rewards methodical placement over guesswork.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard. The free, uncolored spaces look like easy outs, but they are the flexibility you need for the multi-zone straddle dominoes.
Burn 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 spend 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.
