Need some help with the NYT Pips today? Unlike the other NYT Games, Pips is one of the few that focuses on numbers and logical placement. No worries, though, we've got you covered.
Below, we've compiled hints and solutions for the Easy and Medium puzzles, along with a comprehensive guide for the Hard Pips. You can play along here.
Spoilers below for the December 25 Pips. Only read if you want the solutions for today's Pips puzzles.
Alternatively, for more word-based puzzling, check out our guides for tips and solutions to Connections, Strands and Wordle.
Pips tips — how to play Pips
Pips is a domino placement game featuring a grid of multicolored boxes that gets more complicated and larger as you go up in difficulty. Each colored zone represents a condition you have to meet.
You select dominoes and place dominoes into the grid to meet those conditions. You must use every domino to achieve each condition and win the game. Clicking or tapping on the dominoes rotates them so you can position the tiles.
In the above example from a medium puzzle, there are four colored zones. Your placed dominoes must total 12 in the purple zone. In the teal and orange sectors, the number of domino pips must be greater than 3.
In the hard mode, the zones and symbols get more complicated. For example, you could see a crossed-out equal sign, meaning that the three squares you place must be different numbers.
Here are the various symbols you might see:
- = All pips must be the same in this group
- ≠ All pips must not be the same number in this group
- > The pips in the tile must be greater than the listed number
- < The pips in this tile must be less than the listed number
- A number [like 12], the pips must equal that exact number
- Tiles with no color can be anything; think of this as a free space
To win a game of Pips, you must fulfill every condition and fill every square. In some puzzles, there is only one correct solution. In others, usually the harder ones, there can be multiple solutions.
Today's Pips answers — hints to help you solve it
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium-level Pips. After that, you can find a fuller walkthrough for the Hard level. Spoilers below.
Today's Easy Pips solution
Today's Medium Pips solution
Today's Hard Pips walkthrough and solution
Today’s puzzle is a clever one, arranged in the shape of a Christmas Tree. With 15 dominoes and several small clusters, it’s a tough puzzle that forces you to think critically about where to begin and how to maintain your momentum.
Start by placing the 6/2 domino, moving from the Purple 6 group down into the Pink section. You will also need the 6/6 domino for the Orange 12 cluster. Once those are ready, you can set them both down, followed by the 2/2 domino in the two Pink "equals" tiles situated between them.
Next, I positioned the 5/5 domino in the Dark Blue 15 area adjacent to the 6/6 piece. Then, I placed the 5/3 domino so it transitions from the Dark Blue 15 into the Blue 12 zone. The 3/3 domino fills the subsequent two tiles in that Blue 12 group.
After that, return to the left side of the board. Guide the 2/4 domino from the Pink "equals" sign into the Blue "equals" area, then set the 4/4 domino in the following two Blue "equals" tiles. The 4/1 domino then slides from the final Blue "equals" tile into the Green 4 section.
From that point, I dropped the 1/1 domino into the two Green 4 tiles and moved the 1/0 domino from the Purple 1 spot into Pink 0. The 3/0 domino bridges the gap from Blue 12 into the remaining Pink 0 tile.
Place the 1/5 domino leading from Green 4 into Orange 10, then tuck the 5/4 domino from Orange 10 into the Dark Blue "not equal" sign. Finish the board by fitting the 3/4 domino from the Dark Blue "not equal" section into the final open tile at the tree’s base—and consider it a successful holiday solve.
Here's how that looks:
Hard Pips solution
