NYT Pips Hint, Answer & Solution for December 22, 2025

Dec 22, 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!

Click here to play today's official NYT Pips game first.

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

🎲 Today's Puzzle Overview

Released on December 22, 2025 (Monday), today’s NYT Pips puzzle set—edited by Ian Livengood—delivers a crisp, methodical start to the week, perfect for solvers who enjoy structured logic and measurable progress.

Begin with Easy #446, a compact puzzle that emphasizes clean sum targets and straightforward comparison regions. This grid is ideal for sharpening early-game instincts, spotting fast Pips Hints, and practicing careful domino tracking without overwhelming complexity. It’s a calm but purposeful warm-up that rewards attention to basic constraints and value flow.

Move into Medium #450, where the difficulty ramps up with seven dominoes, a prominent unequal region, and multiple greater-than clues. Here, success depends on disciplined elimination, managing competing constraints, and maintaining a clear mental model of the grid. This puzzle naturally encourages deeper analysis and comparison of solution paths.

Close out with Hard #455, constructed by Rodolfo Kurchan, a dense and demanding challenge featuring sixteen dominoes, large multi-cell sum regions, layered equals blocks, and tightly interlocked rules. This puzzle is built for solvers who enjoy systematic decomposition, long-range planning, and the satisfaction of a fully optimized Pips solution.

As a Monday release just before the holiday stretch, this December 22 lineup strikes a balance between clarity and depth. Track each puzzle by ID, refine your logic techniques, and use these grids to set a strong analytical rhythm for the week ahead.

Written by anna

Puzzle Analyst – Mark

💡 Progressive Hints

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

💡 Hint #1 - Observe

Dominoes Include: [6-2], [6-1], [6-0], [5-4], [2-1]. There is no single placement to this puzzle.

💡 Hint #2 - Blue >1

The domino halves in this region must be 2. There are two choices. The answer is 2-6 or 2-1, placed vertically.

💡 Hint #1 - Inventory the Extremes

Begin by scanning for high and low pip scarcity. With only one 6-pip available, any >5 or >4 region becomes immediately constrained, allowing you to anchor the highest value before other deductions.

💡 Hint #2 - Force the Maximum

When a comparison region requires a value greater than all others, place the only possible maximum pip first. This locks orientation early and prevents wasted branching.

💡 Hint #3 - Resolve Equals Through Elimination

Equal regions often collapse once neighboring options shrink. By removing incompatible values, the Blue Equal region is forced to a single pip value, enabling clean follow-up placements.

💡 Hint #4 - Single-Pip Exhaustion

Track rare pip counts closely. When only one domino remains containing a specific pip (here, 1), its placement becomes mandatory, turning uncertainty into certainty.

💡 Hint #5 - Sum Anchoring

For fixed-sum regions, identify the only viable pair once higher or lower values are removed. This step converts a sum constraint into a placement engine that drives multiple regions at once.

💡 Hint #6 - Close the Not-Equal Loop

In the endgame, Not Equal regions act as consistency checks. Once all other values are placed, the final domino naturally satisfies inequality without further guessing.

💡 Hint #1 - Pips Inventory & Capacity Check

Start by counting scarce pips across the full domino set. Large sum regions like Purple 30 and zero-sum zones immediately constrain how many high or low values can be allocated, allowing you to rule out impossible distributions before any placement.

💡 Hint #2 - Single-Value Lock-In

When a region can only be satisfied by a unique pip value, lock it in early. Identifying the lone 4-pip domino and forced zero placements stabilizes multiple regions at once and prevents downstream conflicts.

💡 Hint #3 - Zero Allocation & Equal Flood

Resolve zero regions together when their total demand is clear. Once zeros are placed, Equal regions often collapse to uniform low values, letting you orient remaining dominoes using < and > constraints with confidence.

💡 Hint #4 - Comparison-Driven Filtering

Use > and < regions to filter remaining candidates rather than guessing placements. Comparison constraints often determine orientation even when several dominoes remain possible.

💡 Hint #5 - High-Sum Saturation Strategy

Large sum regions dominated by a single pip value should be filled systematically once confirmed. After lower values are eliminated, saturate the region with the required high pip to simplify the grid.

💡 Hint #6 - Forced Pair Endgame

In the final stage, Equal regions resolve through elimination. With all alternatives exhausted, the remaining identical pair becomes forced, completing the puzzle without ambiguity.

🎨 Pips Solver

Dec 22, 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 22, 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 22, 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: [6-2], [6-1], [6-0], [5-4], [2-1]. There is no single placement to this puzzle.

2

Step 2: Light Blue 4 --(Arrows ①)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. Only one domino with 4 pips (5-4). The answer is 4-5 (5 right into blank), placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Blue >1 + Red 7 + Purple 6 --(Arrows ②③④)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-2, 6-1, 6-0, 2-1). The domino halves in Red 7 region must be 6+1. The domino halves in Purple 6 region must be 0+6. e.g: The answer is 2-6 (2 into Blue >1 region, 6 into Red 7 region), placed vertically; 1-6 (1 into Red 7 region, 6 into Purple 6 region), placed vertically; 0-6 (0 into purple 6 region, 6 left into blank), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Yellow 1 --(Arrows ⑤)

The answer is 1-2 (2 right into blank), placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level

1

Step 1

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

2

Step 2: Purple >5 --(Arrows ①)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. Only one domino with 6 pips (6-4). The answer is 6-4 (6 into Purple >4 region, 4 into Red Not Equal region), placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Light Blue 4 + Blue Equal --(Arrows ②③)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (5-5, 5-1, 5-0, 4-3, 4-2, 3-1). The domino halves in Blue Equal region must be 3. The answer is 4-3 (4 into Light Blue 4 region), placed vertically; 3-1 (1 into Red Not Equal region), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Light Blue 1 --(Arrows ④)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (5-5, 5-1, 5-0, 4-2). Only one domino left that with 1 pips (5-1). The answer is 1-5 (5 into Red Not Equal region), placed horizontally.

5

Step 5: Purple >4 + Green 9 --(Arrows ⑤⑥)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (5-5, 5-0, 4-2). The domino halves in Green 9 region must be 5+4. The answer is 5-5 (one 5s into Purple >4 region), placed horizontally; 4-2 (2 into Red Not Equal region), placed horizontally

6

Step 6: Yellow >3 + Red Not Equal --(Arrows ⑦)

The answer is 5-0 (5 into Yellow >3 region, 0 into Red Not Equal region), placed horizontally. So the domino halves in Red Not Equal region are 4+1+5+2+0.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-6], [6-5], [6-3], [6-2], [6-1], [6-0], [5-2], [5-0], [4-2], [3-3], [3-1], [2-2], [2-0], [1-1], [1-0], [0-0]. Only 7 domino halves that contain 6 pips, need five for Purple 30 region, need two for Blue 12 region. Only 6 domino halves that contain 0 pips, need four for Purple 0 region, need two for Yellow 0 and Green 0 regions. Therefore, the domino halves in Green 4 region must be 1+1+1+1.

2

Step 2: Light Blue 4 + Red Equal + Purple 0 + Red <4 --(Arrows ①②③④)

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

3

Step 3: Green 0 + Yellow 0 + Blue 12 + Yellow <4 + Green 4 --(Arrows ⑤⑥⑦⑧⑨)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes. Only 2 dominoes left that contain 0 pips (6-0, 5-0). Only 3 dominoes left that contain 1 pips (6-1, 3-1, 1-1). The domino halves in Blue 12 region must be 6. The domino halves in Green 4 region must be 1+1+1+1. The answer is 0-6 (0 into Green 0 region, 6 into Blue 12 region), placed horizontally; 0-5 (0 into Yellow 0 region, 5 into Light Blue >8 region), placed vertically; 6-1 (6 into Blue 12 region), placed vertically; 3-1 (3 into Yellow <4 region), placed vertically; 1-1, placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Yellow >4 + Red 4 --(Arrows ⑩⑪)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-6, 6-5, 6-3, 6-2, 5-2, 3-3, 2-2). The domino halves in Red region must be 2+2. The answer is 5-2 (5 into Yellow >4 region), placed horizontally; 2-6 (6 into Purple 30 region), placed horizontally.

5

Step 5: Light Blue Equal + Purple 30 --(Arrows ⑫⑬⑭⑮)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-6, 6-5, 6-3, 3-3, 2-2). The domino halves in Light Blue Equal region must be 3. The domino halves in Purple 30 region must be 6. The answer is 3-3, placed horizontally; 3-6, placed horizontally; 6-6, placed horizontally; 6-5 (5 into Light Blue >8 region, the Light Blue >8 region done), placed vertically.

6

Step 6: Red Equal --(Arrows ⑯)

The answer is 2-2, placed vertically.

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💡 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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