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This page contains the final **answer** and the complete **solution** to today's NYT Pips puzzle. If you haven't attempted the puzzle yet and want to try solving it yourself first, now's your chance!
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🎲 Today's Puzzle Overview
Ian Livengood's easy grid for April 15th is anchored by the greater-than-4 cell at (1,6). The only pip values that satisfy the constraint are 5 and 6, and of the six dominoes in today's easy set only [0|5] carries either — its 5-pip face drops straight into (1,6) and deposits a 0 at (1,5). That 0 immediately seeds the three-cell equals region at (0,4),(0,5),(1,5): all three must be 0, and the [0|0] double fills two of them outright. The three-cell equals column at (1,3),(2,3),(3,3) follows next — [3|3] covers two cells and forces the third — and a short chain through two equals pairs and a less-than-2 cell closes the board.
Ian Livengood's medium puzzle for April 15th opens on the bottom-right. The greater-than-5 cell at (3,4) admits only pip 6, and [1|6] is the only tile that can deliver it, depositing a 1 at (3,3). A perpendicular entry at the single-cell sum=2 constraint at (3,1) identifies [3|2] without ambiguity, giving (3,2)=3. With (3,2)=3 and (3,3)=1 already placed in the four-cell unequal region, [5|2] is the only remaining domino whose two faces are both different from 3, 1, and each other. From there the less-than-1 constraint forces both (0,3) and (1,3) to pip 0, a cascade of equals constraints flows across row 1, and two single-cell sum=3 clues close the board.
Rodolfo Kurchan's hard puzzle for April 15th is built around four interlocking equals regions and a four-cell sum column whose total of 23 nearly saturates the maximum. The entry point is the five-cell equals region stretching across the upper-left corner — five cells that must all carry the same pip. Only the [4|4] double can seed two of them from a single tile, and once placed, three more dominoes complete the region and deposit a 1 at (0,2). That value feeds a sum=4 constraint that reads off (0,3)=3 and (0,4)=5, which in turn forces the entire sum=23 column to commit to three 6s. From there, the [6|6] double places itself at (1,4) and (2,4), and the cascade continues through two more equals regions, two sum constraints at the bottom, and a less-than-5 cell before the final domino closes the board.
💡 Progressive Hints
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🎨 Pips Solver
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✅ Final Answer & Complete Solution For Hard Level
The key to solving today's hard puzzle was identifying the placement for the critical dominoes highlighted in the starting grid. Once those were in place, the rest of the puzzle could be solved logically. See the final grid below to compare your solution.
Starting Position & Key First Steps
This image shows the initial puzzle grid for the hard level, with a few critical first placements highlighted.
Final Answer: The Solved Grid for Hard Mode
Compare this final grid with your own solution to see the correct placement of all dominoes.
💬 Community Discussion
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