🚨 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
Ian Livengood's easy board splits into two independent footholds and one shared seam. The top-left and top-right corners are short vertical pairs under low ceilings, and each is narrow enough that only the tray's two doubles can legally fill it, so both of those tiles are spoken for before anything else moves. The teal equals pair along the bottom is the shared seam: once the doubles are committed to the corners, it can no longer be satisfied by a single double, which narrows it to the only pip that appears on two separate tiles in the tray. From there the deduction graph is a straight line — the two four-bearing tiles pin the equals pair, one free square swallows the high half of one of them, and the orange sum-3 pair resolves with the single leftover tile.
Rodolfo Kurchan's medium squeezes from both ends of the pip range at once. A singleton "less" on the left edge admits exactly one pip, while the "greater" singleton in the bottom-left corner excludes exactly one, so the extremes are nailed down early and each one drags a partner pip into an adjacent block. Today's NYT Pips medium hinges on the triple-equals block in the top-right: three matching cells can only be served by the one pip value the tray supplies three times, and identifying it fixes two tiles in a single stroke, starving the purple sum-8 block of candidates until just one pair of halves can complete it.
Kurchan's hard is a lattice rather than a cascade. Thirty-one of the thirty-two live cells are single-cell sum targets, so nearly every tile must satisfy two unrelated constraints at once and the deduction graph starts to look like a bipartite matching problem in disguise. Three structural facts do the early work: the tray holds no doubles, its highest pip has nowhere legal to live except the one unconstrained cell, and the five zero-target cells match the tray's five zeros exactly. From that perfect match the chain unwinds outward through the one-targets and two-targets cell by cell.
💡 Progressive Hints
Try these hints one at a time. Each hint becomes more specific to help you solve it yourself!
💡 Read the constraint types before the pips
Two kinds of region carry this board. Look first at the two 'less' pairs in the top corners — narrow vertical slots under a low ceiling, which means very few tiles can legally sit there. Then look at the teal 'equals' pair along the bottom, where both cells must repeat one identical pip. Everything else on the grid is either a free square or a small sum, so those three regions are the whole story.
💡 The corners eat both doubles
The purple less 3 at the top-left and the pink less 2 at the top-right are each a single vertical tile, and in both cases only the tray's two doubles have halves low enough to clear the ceiling. Since each corner swallows one double, neither double is available for the teal equals pair at the bottom-left. That leaves the equals pair needing the same pip on two separate tiles — and only one pip value in this tray shows up on two different tiles.
💡 Complete easy layout
Teal equals pair on the bottom-left: the 6/4 stands vertically, 4 down in the left equals cell and 6 up in the uncoloured free square on the left; the 1/4 lies flat beside it, 4 in the right equals cell and 1 in the left cell of the orange sum 3. The orange sum 3 then needs 2, so the 2/5 stands vertically, 2 down in the right orange cell and 5 up in the uncoloured free square on the right. Corners: the 0/0 double stands upright in the pink less 2 at the top-right (0 above, 0 below) and the 1/1 double stands upright in the purple less 3 at the top-left (1 above, 1 below).
💡 Two squeezes and a triple
This grid is built from opposing extremes plus one repetition. One region refuses every pip from a threshold upward, another refuses everything downward, and a third demands that three cells all hold the same pip. Start by classifying those three constraints, not by guessing values — the extremes each have exactly one legal answer, and the triple has exactly one legal pip.
💡 Where the extremes sit
The teal less 1 is a lone cell on the left edge, so it can only hold the smallest pip, and whatever tile lands there must hand its partner up into the neighbouring block. The blue greater 0 is the lone bottom-left corner cell, which will take the biggest pip in the tray. Meanwhile the pink equals block in the top-right can only be filled by the one value the tray supplies on three separate halves — a double plus one single tile.
💡 Complete medium layout
Pink equals block, top-right: the 5/5 lies flat across its two lower cells, and the 5/3 lies flat above, 5 to the right in the pink corner cell and 3 to the left into the top-right cell of the purple sum 8. Purple sum 8 then needs 1 and 4: the 2/1 stands vertically with 1 up in the purple's top-left cell and 2 down in the uncoloured free square beneath it; the 0/4 stands vertically with 4 up in the purple's bottom-right cell and 0 down in the teal less 1. The 6/0 stands vertically in the bottom-left, 6 down in the blue greater 0 and 0 up in the uncoloured free square on the left. The 2/3 stands vertically with 2 up in the uncoloured free square on the right and 3 down in the green sum 3. The 1/4 fills the orange sum 5 vertical pair, 1 in the upper cell and 4 in the lower.
💡 Almost every cell is a sum of one
This board is a field of single-cell sum targets with exactly one unconstrained square in the middle. Ignore the middle of the pip range entirely: start from the targets that ask for nothing at all, then the targets that ask for the smallest amounts, and treat the uncoloured square as the only place where a very large pip can survive.
💡 Five zeros, and a 6 with nowhere to go
Five cells on this board are single-cell sums worth nothing — the pink 0 in the second row, the orange 0 near the top of the right edge, the blue 0 on the left edge, the green 0 in the fourth row and the teal 0 near the bottom of the right edge — so each must take a 0, and the tray supplies exactly five zeros, one each on the 0/1, 0/2, 0/3, 0/4 and 0/5. The tray's single 6 is a different matter: no target on the board exceeds 5, so the 6 can only occupy the uncoloured square at the centre.
💡 Give each zero its partner
Adjacency decides the zero tiles. The blue 0 on the left edge sits directly under the blue sum 4, so the 0/4 stands vertically there, 0 down and 4 up. The pink 0 in the second row sits directly above the purple sum 5, so the 0/5 stands with 0 up and 5 down. Near the top of the right edge the orange 0 sits directly above the teal sum 2, so the 0/2 drops 0 into the orange cell and 2 into the teal cell below it. Near the bottom of the right edge the teal 0 sits directly below the teal sum 3, so the 0/3 stands with 3 up and 0 down.
💡 The centre and the two-cell verticals
The uncoloured square at the centre has four neighbours with targets, and only the purple sum 3 directly above it can absorb the partner of the tray's 6 — so the 3/6 stands vertically, 6 down in the free square and 3 up in the purple sum 3. In the middle of the board the green 0 and the purple 1 are side by side, so the 0/1 lies flat between them, 0 left and 1 right. On the right edge the pink sum 4 sits directly above the pink sum 3, so the 3/4 stands vertically, 4 up and 3 down. That accounts for every zero and the 6; the rest is pure arithmetic.
💡 Complete hard layout
Centre: the 3/6 stands vertically, 6 down in the uncoloured square and 3 up in the purple sum 3 of the second row. Left edge: the 0/4 stands with 0 down in the blue sum 0 and 4 up in the blue sum 4. Second row: the 0/5 stands with 0 up in the pink sum 0 and 5 down in the purple sum 5. Top of the right edge: the 0/2 stands with 0 up in the orange sum 0 and 2 down in the teal sum 2. Bottom of the right edge: the 0/3 stands with 3 up in the teal sum 3 and 0 down in the teal sum 0. Middle of the board: the 0/1 lies flat, 0 left in the green sum 0 and 1 right in the purple sum 1. Lower left: the 1/5 stands with 5 up in the orange sum 5 of the fourth row and 1 down in the orange sum 1 beneath it; the 2/5 stands with 2 up in the blue sum 2 and 5 down in the orange sum 5 of the bottom row. Bottom row: the 1/2 stands with 2 up in the green sum 2 of the fifth row and 1 down in the blue sum 1; the 1/4 lies flat, 1 left in the green sum 1 of the bottom row and 4 right in the purple sum 4. Top row: the 1/3 stands with 3 up in the purple sum 3 near the top-left corner and 1 down in the green sum 1 of the second row; the 4/5 lies flat, 4 left in the pink sum 4 of the top row and 5 right in the teal sum 5 beside it; the 2/4 stands with 2 up in the orange sum 2 and 4 down in the teal sum 4. Finally the 2/3 stands with 2 up in the green sum 2 of the third row and 3 down in the blue sum 3; the 3/4 stands with 4 up in the pink sum 4 on the right edge and 3 down in the pink sum 3 beneath it; and the 3/5 lies flat in the fourth row, 3 left in the purple sum 3 and 5 right in the pink sum 5.
🎨 Pips Solver
Oct 28, 2026
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
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
1
Step 1: The equals pair cannot borrow a double
Only ten cells are live here, and the two vertical pairs in the top corners are locked to a single tile each — the purple less 3 in the top-left corner and the pink less 2 in the top-right corner each have halves that touch nothing but their partner. Both ceilings are so low that only the 0/0 and the 1/1 clear them, so each corner claims one double. That leaves the teal equals pair along the bottom unable to use a double at all: it must repeat a pip from two separate tiles, and only the 4 appears on more than one tile in the tray, on the 6/4 and the 1/4.
2
Step 2: Stand the 6/4 and lay the 1/4 flat
The equals cells sit in the bottom-left of the board. The 6/4 supplies the left equals cell: it stands vertically with 4 down in the teal equals and 6 up in the uncoloured free square on the left, since the 6 has no constraint to answer to. The 1/4 lies flat along the same stretch of the bottom, 4 into the right equals cell and 1 into the left cell of the orange sum 3 next door.
3
Step 3: The orange sum 3 finishes itself
One orange cell now holds 1, so its partner must be 2 — nothing else reaches a total of 3. The only unused tile carrying a 2 is the 2/5, and it must stand vertically: 2 down in the right-hand orange cell, 5 up in the uncoloured free square on the right. Both free squares are now filled and no sum is broken.
4
Step 4: The doubles take the corners
Only the 0/0 and the 1/1 remain, and both clear both ceilings, so logically the two corners are interchangeable. The published fill stands the 0/0 upright in the pink less 2 at the top-right corner, 0 above and 0 below, and the 1/1 upright in the purple less 3 at the top-left corner, 1 above and 1 below. Every region then checks out: the teal equals reads two matching pips, and the orange pair sums exactly.
🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level
1
Step 1: A one-answer cell on the left edge
The teal less 1 is a single cell that must stay below 1, which leaves exactly one legal pip. Two tiles in the tray carry that pip, the 6/0 and the 0/4, and whichever goes here has to push its partner into a neighbour that genuinely needs it. The teal cell's constrained neighbours are the bottom-right cell of the purple sum 8 above it and the top of the orange sum 5 to its right, so hold both options open for one more beat.
2
Step 2: The pink triple has one candidate pip
Three cells that must match need a pip the tray supplies three times, and scanning the tile list only one value appears on three halves — a double plus one single tile. So the 5/5 lies flat across the two lower cells of the pink equals block in the top-right, and the 5/3 lies flat above them, 5 to the right in the pink's corner cell and 3 to the left into the top-right cell of the purple sum 8.
3
Step 3: The purple sum 8 counts down
The purple block already holds the 3 from the 5/3, so its other two cells need 5 between them. The 0/4 goes vertically here: 4 up in the purple's bottom-right cell, 0 dropping down into the teal less 1 below — that settles the ambiguity from step 1 and leaves 1 for the purple's top-left cell. The 2/1 delivers it, standing vertically with 1 up in the purple and 2 down in the uncoloured free square beneath it.
4
Step 4: The 6/0 takes the greater-0 corner
The blue greater 0 in the bottom-left corner accepts any pip above zero, which makes it the obvious landing place for the tray's 6. Stand the 6/0 vertically: 6 down in the blue corner cell, 0 up in the uncoloured free square on the left. That disposes of both tiles with a 0, and the left column is now complete.
5
Step 5: The bottom-right corner and the orange pair
The green sum 3 in the bottom-right corner is a single cell, so it simply takes 3 from the 2/3: the tile stands vertically, 3 down in the green cell and 2 up in the uncoloured free square on the right. The last tile, the 1/4, fills the orange sum 5 vertical pair on the bottom seam — 1 in the upper orange cell, 4 in the lower one. Every region now matches its target.
🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level
1
Step 1: The 6 has exactly one legal home
No sum target on this board exceeds 5, so a 6 is illegal in every coloured cell. The tray contains a single 6, on the 3/6 tile, and the only unconstrained cell is the uncoloured square at the centre of the board. Its four neighbours all carry targets — the green sum 2 to its left, the purple sum 5 to its right, the green sum 0 below and the purple sum 3 above — and only the purple sum 3 can absorb the tile's other half. So the 3/6 stands vertically: 6 down in the free square, 3 up in the purple sum 3 in the second row.
2
Step 2: Five zeros for five zero-target cells
Five single cells demand a total of nothing, so each holds a 0, and the tray supplies exactly five zeros — one each on the 0/1, 0/2, 0/3, 0/4 and 0/5. Partners fall out of adjacency. On the left edge the blue sum 0 sits directly under the blue sum 4, so the 0/4 stands vertically, 0 down and 4 up. In the second row the pink sum 0 sits directly above the purple sum 5, so the 0/5 stands with 0 up and 5 down. Near the top of the right edge the orange sum 0 sits directly above the teal sum 2, so the 0/2 drops 0 into the orange cell and 2 into the teal below. In the middle of the board the green sum 0 and the purple sum 1 are side by side, so the 0/1 lies flat, 0 left and 1 right.
3
Step 3: The bottom half fills by arithmetic
Down the right edge the teal sum 0 sits directly below the teal sum 3, so the 0/3 stands with 3 up and 0 down — that finishes every zero. Now work the lower rows left to right. The orange sum 5 in the fourth row sits directly above the orange sum 1, so the 1/5 stands with 5 up, 1 down. The blue sum 2 in the fifth row sits directly above the orange sum 5 of the bottom row, so the 2/5 stands with 2 up, 5 down. The blue sum 1 in the bottom row takes the 1 of the 1/2, with 2 going up into the green sum 2 above it.
4
Step 4: The top half completes
Along the top row the pink sum 4 and the teal sum 5 are adjacent, so the 4/5 lies flat, 4 left, 5 right. The orange sum 2 in the top row sits directly above the teal sum 4, so the 2/4 stands with 2 up, 4 down. Near the top-left corner the purple sum 3 sits directly above the green sum 1 of the second row, so the 1/3 stands with 3 up, 1 down. Back in the middle rows, the green sum 2 in the third row sits directly above the blue sum 3, so the 2/3 stands with 2 up and 3 down.
5
Step 5: The last three tiles
Two cells remain bare in the right-hand middle cluster: the pink sum 4 sits directly above the pink sum 3, so the 3/4 stands vertically, 4 up and 3 down. That leaves the purple sum 3 and the pink sum 5 side by side in the fourth row, and the 3/5 lies flat between them, 3 to the left in the purple and 5 to the right in the pink. The final tile, the 1/4, lies flat along the bottom row: 1 left in the green sum 1, 4 right in the purple sum 4. All thirty-one sum targets now read exactly.
💡 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.
💬 Community Discussion
Leave your comment