NYT Pips Hint, Answer & Solution for December 21, 2025

Dec 21, 2025

🚨 SPOILER WARNING

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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Want hints instead? Scroll down for progressive clues that won't spoil the fun.

🎲 Today's Puzzle Overview

Released on December 21, 2025 (Sunday) — the Winter Solstice — today’s NYT Pips puzzle set, edited by Ian Livengood, offers a calm yet intellectually rich way to mark the turning of the season. With the longest night of the year inviting slower rhythms and deeper focus, this lineup is perfectly suited for thoughtful, unhurried solving.

Start gently with Easy #448, constructed by Livengood. Its clean equals regions and approachable sum targets make it an excellent warm-up puzzle, ideal for spotting early Pips Hints like value balancing and low-risk elimination. This grid rewards careful observation over speed, helping solvers establish confidence and rhythm right from the first domino.

Move into Medium #452, also by Livengood, where the logic deepens in a satisfying way. Layered equals blocks, multi-cell sum regions, and a carefully placed comparison constraint push you to track domino distribution more deliberately. This puzzle highlights classic mid-game Pips strategies — narrowing possibilities, managing shared values, and refining solution paths through disciplined deduction.

Finish the day with Hard #457, crafted by Rodolfo Kurchan, a true Sunday deep-dive challenge. Dense unequal regions, expansive equals zones, and tightly interlocking constraints demand full-grid awareness and precise sequencing. Success here comes from patient analysis, strategic ordering, and recognizing cascading implications — the kind of puzzle that rewards persistence with a powerful “aha” moment.

Celebrate the Winter Solstice with puzzles that emphasize clarity, structure, and mindful reasoning. Take your time, analyze the grid, exchange Pips hints, and compare solution logic with fellow solvers. This December 21 NYT Pips set is a reflective, data-driven logic experience — perfect for anchoring your weekend with focus, calm, and satisfying insight.

Written by Sophia

Puzzle Analyst – Nikii

💡 Progressive Hints

Try these hints one at a time. Each hint becomes more specific to help you solve it yourself!

💡 Hint #1 - So easy

Just do it.

💡 Hint #1 - Inventory & Scarcity Scan

Begin by listing all available dominoes and counting key pip values. This upfront inventory reveals which numbers are scarce and which regions will be forced later, preventing wasted branching early on.

💡 Hint #2 - Lock the Equal Region First

When an Equal region is adjacent to a fixed-value region, resolve the Equal value immediately. Limited candidates make this a high-confidence anchor that stabilizes multiple neighboring placements.

💡 Hint #3 - Sum Elimination Logic

If a target sum cannot be formed by any remaining single domino, switch to split-sum reasoning. Identify which pair of pips must combine to reach the total, then orient placements to satisfy surrounding regions.

💡 Hint #4 - Forced Pair Resolution

Equal regions with shrinking options often collapse to a single viable pair. Use remaining inventory to eliminate alternatives and place the forced domino without guessing.

💡 Hint #5 - Comparison Constraint Cleanup

In the endgame, use < or > regions to decide orientation rather than placement. Once values are known, comparison rules uniquely determine direction, allowing the final dominoes to fall cleanly into place.

💡 Hint #1 - Pips Inventory Scan

Start by counting scarce pip values across the full domino set. When large Equal or high-sum regions exist, pip scarcity (here 1s and 6s) immediately tells you which regions are most constrained and where those values must eventually go.

💡 Hint #2 - Lock the Forced Equal

When an Equal region can only accept a single repeated value, resolve it immediately. Fixing the Equal region to the lowest viable pip (0) frees multiple domino halves and creates controlled spillover into adjacent regions.

💡 Hint #3 - Resolve Equals via Sum Pressure

Use nearby fixed-sum regions to force the value of an Equal region. If only one pip value allows neighboring sums to work, that Equal region becomes deterministic rather than speculative.

💡 Hint #4 - Cascade from High Sums

Once a large sum region is nearly satisfied, finish it first. Completing a high-sum region like 18 locks orientations and automatically determines the value of adjacent Equal regions through elimination.

💡 Hint #5 - Finish with Not-Equal Separation

In the endgame, Not Equal regions decide value separation, not placement. With most values already committed, ensure all remaining halves are distinct, then place them to satisfy remaining sums and blanks cleanly.

🎨 Pips Solver

Dec 21, 2025

Click a domino to place it on the board. You can also click the board, and the correct domino will appear.

✅ 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

Pips hint for December 21, 2025 – hard level puzzle grid with critical first placements and strategy

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

NYT Pips December 21, 2025 hard puzzle full solution grid showing final answer with hints

Compare this final grid with your own solution to see the correct placement of all dominoes.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Easy Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [5-2], [4-2], [3-3], [2-0], [0-0].

2

Step 2: Red 4 + Purple Equal + Light Blue 6 --(Arrows ①②③④)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Purple Equal region must be 0. The domino halves in Light Blue 6 region must be 2+2+2. The answer is 4-2 (4 into Red 4 region), placed vertically; 0-0, placed vertically; 0-2, placed horizontally; 2-5 (5 into Yellow 8 region), placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Yellow 8 --(Arrows ⑤)

The domino halves in this region must be 5+3. The answer is 3-3 (one 3s into blank), placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-5], [6-3], [6-2], [5-5], [4-1], [2-2], [1-0].

2

Step 2: Blue 6 + Purple Equal --(Arrows ①②)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Purple Equal region must be 2. The answer is 6-2 (6 into Blue 6 region), placed vertically; 2-2, placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Green 6 + Light Blue 6 --(Arrows ③④)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-5, 6-3, 5-5, 4-1, 1-0). No domino sum to 6. The domino halves in Light Blue 6 region must be 5+1. The answer is 6-5 (6 into Green 6 region), placed horizontally; 1-4 (4 into Yellow 11 region), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Red Equal --(Arrows ⑤)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-3, 5-5, 1-0). Need one domino with the same number placed in this region. The answer is 5-5 (whole domino), placed horizontally.

5

Step 5: Yellow 11 + Purple <4 --(Arrows ⑥⑦)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-3, 1-0). The domino halves in Yellow 11 region must be 4+6+1. The answer is 6-3 (3 into Purple <4 region), placed vertically; 1-0 (0 up into blank), placed vertically.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-5], [6-4], [6-3], [6-1], [6-0], [5-4], [5-1], [5-0], [4-3], [4-2], [4-1], [1-1], [1-0], [0-0]. Only 6 domino halves that contain 1 pips for Blue Equal region. Only 5 domino halves that contain 6 pips, need three for Blue 18 region, need one for Yellow 11 region.

2

Step 2: Red Equal --(Arrows ①②③④)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. Need one domino with the same number placed in Red Equal region, therefore, the domino halves in this region must be 0. The answer is 0-0, placed horizontally; 0-1 (1 into Blue Equal region), placed vertically; 0-6 (6 into Blue 18 region), placed vertically; 0-5 (5 into Purple Not Equal region), placed vertically.

3

Step 3: Purple 5 + Green Equal --(Arrows ⑤⑥)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes with 5 pips (6-5, 5-4, 5-1). The domino halves in Green Equal region must be 4. The answer is 5-4 (5 into Purple 5 region), placed horizontally; 4-6 (6 into Blue 18 region), placed vertically.

4

Step 4: Yellow 11 + Light Blue 5 + Blue Equal --(Arrows ⑦⑧⑨⑩⑪)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes. The domino halves in Yellow 11 region must be 5+6. The domino halves in Blue Equal region must be 1. The answer is 6-5 (6 into Blue 18 region region, the Blue 18 region done), placed horizontally; 6-1, placed vertically; 5-1, placed vertically; 1-4 (4 down into blank), placed vertically; 1-1, placed horizontally.

5

Step 5: Light Blue 2 + Red 3 + Purple Not Equal --(Arrows ⑫⑬⑭)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-3, 4-3, 4-2). The domino halves in Purple Not Equal region must be different. The answer is 2-4 (2 into Light Blue region region, 4 into Purple Not Equal region), placed horizontally; 3-6 (3 into Red 3 region, 6 into Purple Not Equal region), placed horizontally; 3-4 (3 into Purple Not Equal region region, 4 left into blank), placed horizontally. So the domino halves in Purple Not Equal region must be 5+4+6+3 (5s come from step 2).

🎥 NYTpips Strategy in Seconds 📊 | Smart Entry & Pips Logic Explained

Watch closely — the subtle patterns reveal smarter steps

💡 Pro Tips for Similar Puzzles

Start with Constraints

Always begin with the most constrained regions - sum regions with small numbers or tight spaces.

Use Equal Regions

Use "equal" regions as anchors - they eliminate many possibilities quickly.

Work Systematically

Let the rules guide your placement rather than guessing randomly.

Double-Check

Verify each region's rules are satisfied before moving to the next.

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