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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 is a small masterclass in economy: five tiles, a handful of one-cell clues, and an equals pair that punches far above its size. The design signature is the way the corner singletons — a sum at the very top-left, a greater-than on the right edge — each have exactly one neighbour, so tile orientation is settled before a single pip value is chosen. Because the tray carries no doubles at all, the teal equals pair has to be fed by two separate tiles, and that small hinge is what the rest of the solve swings on.
Rodolfo Kurchan's medium raises the temperature with seven tiles and a board that reads like a designer's sketch of interlocking shapes: an equals triplet in the top-left, a less-than run down the left, an unequal run across the top-right, and a constellation of single-cell sums along the right edge. The intent looks like deliberate contrast — a zero-sum square that can only accept one pip sits two cells from a greater-than square that can only accept the tray's biggest, and those two extremes squeeze the middle of the board into place almost by themselves.
The hard is Kurchan at his most architectural. Sixteen tiles across a nine-by-seven grid, a three-cell run pinned to the largest target the board allows, an equals column waiting quietly in the bottom-right corner, and a four-cell block whose target is so low that zeros have to do the heavy lifting. Notice how many sum-0 squares he plants — each is a fixed point that keeps the big blocks from drifting. This NYT Pips hard rewards anyone who reads the extremes first and lets the middle fill itself in.
💡 Progressive Hints
Try these hints one at a time. Each hint becomes more specific to help you solve it yourself!
💡 Sort the board by constraint type
Before you touch the tray, read the board by clue type. The tightest one is the equals pair on the left — two cells that must show identical pips. After that come the lone squares on the corners and edges, each of which gives you a direction for free. Leave the big block until last.
💡 Corners decide direction
The orange sum-4 square in the top-left corner and the blue greater-2 square on the right edge each touch only one other cell, so their tiles are already forced in shape: upright at the orange corner, flat at the blue cell. That also means the central pink pair cannot be a single tile, because the blue square needs its upper half — so the pink pair's lower cell must reach left into the teal column.
💡 Full easy answer
The 4/1 stands vertically in the top-left corner, 4 up in the orange sum-4 cell and 1 down in the uncoloured square. The 2/4 lies flat just below, 2 in the upper teal cell and 4 in the lower pink cell; the 2/0 lies flat beneath that, 2 in the lower teal cell and 0 in the top-left cell of the purple block. Finish the purple block with the 2/6 upright at its right end — 2 up, 6 down — and lay the 4/3 flat across the middle of the board, 4 in the upper pink cell and 3 in the blue greater-2 cell.
💡 The single-cell clues lead
Start with the lone squares tucked into the top row and the top-left area. One is a sum that can only be satisfied one way; another is a greater-than that wipes out nearly the whole tray. Shapes come second — but three of these singletons sit in corners of their own little pockets, so each one drags its partner along with it.
💡 Top row sets the tone
The blue sum-0 square at the top has only one neighbour, so its tile must stand vertically and its partner drops straight into the left cell of the green unequal run. Meanwhile the orange greater-4 square a little to the left needs the biggest pip in the whole tray — and the tray holds no 5 at all — so that pip falls into the middle of the pink less-8 run below it.
💡 Full medium answer
Everything, in order. The 0/4 stands vertically at the top, 0 in the blue sum-0 square and 4 down in the left cell of the green unequal run. The 6/3 stands vertically with 6 in the orange greater-4 square and 3 down in the middle of the pink less-8 run. The purple equals triplet is all 4s: the 4/4 lies flat across its top two cells and the 4/1 stands upright with 4 in the bottom cell of the triplet and 1 down in the left end of the pink run. On the right, the 2/2 stands upright with 2 down in the purple sum-2 square and 2 up in the middle of the green run; the 3/3 stands upright with 3 up in the right cell of the green run and 3 down in the pink sum-3 square; the 3/2 stands at the right end of the pink run with 3 in the run and 2 down in the teal less-3 cell.
💡 Extremes first
Hunt the single-cell clues before anything else — the greater-than parked in the bottom-left corner, the sum-0 squares dotted around the grid, and the sum on the top-left run that asks for the maximum the board can give. Extremes nail a pip instantly; everything in the middle of the board is downstream of them.
💡 The bottom-left corner
The orange greater-5 square in the bottom-left corner has exactly one neighbour, so its tile stands vertically and its pip is the highest the game allows. That neighbour is the lower cell of the blue sum-5 pair above. Read the green sum-5 square just to the right of that pair: it must take the 5 half of a flat tile whose other half fills the pair, which pins the corner in two moves.
💡 The top run is maxed out
The purple sum-18 run across the top-left is three cells with the highest target on the board, so every one of its cells is maxed. The 6/6 double lies flat over the left two cells, and a vertical tile at the right end brings the third maximum down into the orange sum-12 block beneath.
💡 Twelve and six
The orange sum-12 block is all equal — three 4s, with the 4/4 flat across its bottom pair. The blue sum-6 block on the right resolves into 2, 2, 2: the 2/2 flat across its bottom two cells, and the tile above carrying 2 down from the pink sum-5 square at the top edge. Meanwhile the purple sum-0 square takes the 0/0 upright, its lower 0 landing on the corner of the four-cell teal block.
💡 Full hard answer
Bottom-left: the 6/1 stands with 1 up in the blue sum-5 pair and 6 down in the orange greater-5 corner; the 4/5 lies flat with 4 left in the pair and 5 right in the green sum-5 square. The purple sum-0 square takes the 0/0 upright, 0 up and 0 dropping into the teal block. Top: the 6/6 lies flat over the left two cells of the purple sum-18 run, and the 4/6 stands at its right end, 6 up and 4 down into the orange sum-12 block, which finishes with the 4/4 flat. The blue sum-6 block is 2/2 flat across its bottom two cells with the 5/2 upright above, 5 up in the pink sum-5 square and 2 down at the block's top-left; the 2/1 lies flat in the teal less-4 pair, 2 left and 1 right. Centre: the 4/0 stands with 4 up in the pink greater-3 square and 0 down in the teal sum-0 square, and the 6/2 lies flat in the orange unequal pair, 6 left and 2 right. Left side: the 0/3 stands with 3 up in the uncoloured square and 0 down in the green sum-0 square; the 3/6 stands below it, 3 up and 6 down in the purple sum-9 pair. Bottom-right: the 1/1 stands over the top two cells of the pink equals column, the 0/1 lies flat at the bottom with its 0 in the teal block and its 1 in the equals column, and the teal sum-5 block closes with the 2/3 flat, 2 left and 3 middle, beside those two zeros.
🎨 Pips Solver
Nov 14, 2026
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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.
🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Easy Level
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Step 1: Three clues, three directions
Three of the clues touch only one other cell. The orange sum-4 square sits alone in the top-left corner, with the uncoloured square below it as its only escape; the blue greater-2 square on the right edge has just the pink cell beside it; and the bottom corner of the purple block hangs off the cell above it. So the tiles are decided in shape before any pip is chosen — upright at the orange corner, flat at the blue cell, upright at the foot of the purple block.
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Step 2: The pink pair has to split
Because the blue square's only neighbour belongs to the pink pair, the tile serving the blue square also eats one half of that pair. That forces the pink pair to be filled by two different tiles, and it means the lower pink cell has to reach left into the teal column. From here the tile crossing into the teal equals region is doing double duty: one half sits in pink, the other is one of the two matching teal pips.
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Step 3: Teal hands pink its matching 4s
The teal pair needs identical pips, and the only tile that fits the crossing is the 2/4: it lies flat with 2 in the upper teal cell and 4 in the lower pink cell. Pink now needs 8 across two cells, so the upper pink cell must also take 4 — which is the 4/3 laying flat through it, sending its 3 into the blue greater-2 square to satisfy that clue at the same time.
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Step 4: Purple block and the leftovers
The lower teal cell still needs a matching 2, and the tile that supplies it is the 2/0 lying flat: 2 in the teal column so the equals holds, and 0 passed into the top-left cell of the purple block. Purple therefore needs 8 from its last two cells — the 2/6 standing upright at the right end, 2 up and 6 down. The final tile, the 4/1, stands in the top-left corner with 4 in the orange sum-4 square and 1 dropping into the uncoloured free square.
🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level
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Step 1: Zero at the top
The blue sum-0 square on the top edge can only hold one pip value, and the tray has exactly one tile carrying it: the 0/4. Its sole neighbour is the left cell of the green unequal run, so the tile stands vertically — 0 up in the sum-0 square, 4 down in the first of the three unequal cells.
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Step 2: The biggest pip in the tray
The orange greater-4 square rules out almost everything: there is no 5 anywhere in this tray, and the only 6 lives on the 6/3. So that square takes 6, and its partner falls straight down into the middle cell of the pink less-8 run — a 3 that keeps the run comfortably under its limit.
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Step 3: An equals triplet of 4s
The purple equals block in the top-left needs three identical pips, and the 4/4 double is the natural spine: it lies flat across the top pair. The third cell, the one directly beneath the left end, then has to match — the 4/1 stands upright there, putting 4 in the triplet and 1 down at the left end of the pink run. The run now reads 1 and 3 with one cell left.
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Step 4: The right-hand singletons
Two more lone squares sit on the right. The purple sum-2 square takes exactly 2, and the pink sum-3 square takes exactly 3. Each pairs upward into the green unequal run: the 2/2 double stands upright with 2 down in the sum-2 square and 2 up in the middle of the run, while the 3/3 double stands upright sideways-on with 3 up in the run's right cell and 3 down in the sum-3 square. Green now reads 4, 2, 3 — three different pips.
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Step 5: Closing the run
One tile is left. The 3/2 stands vertically at the right end of the pink less-8 run: 3 in the run and 2 down in the teal less-3 square, which is well below its limit. The pink run finishes as 1, 3, 3, and every region on the board is satisfied — the unequal trio, the equals triplet, the two zero-and-greater singletons, and the small sum squares on the right.
🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level
1
Step 1: The bottom-left corner collapses
Start at the orange greater-5 square in the bottom-left corner. It is a single cell, its only neighbour is the cell above, and it must exceed 5 — so it takes the maximum pip and its tile stands vertically. Now read the green sum-5 square to the right: it has just one neighbour, the right-hand cell of the blue sum-5 pair, so a flat tile spans them and the green square takes 5 while the blue pair's upper cell takes 4. That forces the pair's lower cell to 1 — and since the vertical tile beneath it carries the maximum, it can only be the 6/1: 1 up, 6 down in the orange corner. The flat tile is the 4/5.
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Step 2: The zero that anchors the bottom
The purple sum-0 square near the bottom has one neighbour, the top-left cell of the teal sum-5 block below it. Two matching zeros are needed, and the tray holds a single double zero: the 0/0 stands upright, 0 up in the purple square and 0 down on the corner of the four-cell teal block. That block now needs five more from three cells.
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Step 3: Eighteen means all maximum
The purple sum-18 run across the top-left is three cells with the highest target the board permits, so each of its cells must be maxed out. The 6/6 double lies flat over the left two, and the right-hand cell can only be fed from below — the 4/6 stands vertically, 6 up in the run and 4 down in the top-right cell of the orange sum-12 block. That block now needs 8 from its remaining two cells, which the 4/4 double supplies lying flat.
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Step 4: Six becomes three twos
The blue sum-6 block on the right settles into 2, 2, 2 — the 2/2 double flat across its bottom two cells, and a vertical tile above carrying 2 down from the top edge. That upper tile also serves the pink sum-5 square in the top row, so it is the 5/2: 5 up in the pink square, 2 down at the block's top-left. The teal less-4 pair on the top-right is then free to take the 2/1 lying flat, 2 on the left and 1 on the right.
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Step 5: The centre pair of zeros and an unequal pair
The teal sum-0 square in the middle of the board has only two neighbours, and the one above it is the pink greater-3 square. The 4/0 stands upright there, 4 up to satisfy the greater-than and 0 down in the teal square. That leaves the orange unequal pair on the right free for the 6/2 lying flat: 6 on the left, 2 on the right, two happily different pips.
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Step 6: Left column and the equals column
The green sum-0 square on the left needs a zero, and its one open neighbour is the uncoloured square above, so the 0/3 stands upright with 3 up and 0 down. Directly beneath it, the purple sum-9 pair takes the 3/6 upright — 3 up, 6 down. Finally the pink equals column in the bottom-right corner: the 1/1 stands over its top two cells, and the 0/1 lies flat at the bottom with its 1 completing the column and its 0 sliding into the teal sum-5 block. That block closes with the 2/3 flat — 2, then 3 — beside the two zeros already planted there.
💡 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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