Every square demands a number. There are no blank tiles to hide behind.
Each Sunday, the New York Times invites its players into a quiet contest of logic and constraint, where numbered tiles must be placed just so — no more, no less — until every condition is satisfied and the grid yields its single possible truth. Today's Pips puzzle, arriving in three tiers of difficulty, reminds us that even the most intricate systems of rules carry within them a hidden order, waiting to be uncovered by those patient enough to look. The hardest version asks players to balance an equation across seven interconnected spaces, with no blank tiles to soften the challenge — only the slow, satisfying work of reasoning one step at a time.
- The Hard puzzle's equation format and seven-section grid create an immediate sense of complexity that can mislead solvers into thinking the challenge is greater than it truly is.
- With no blank tiles available and every domino required, a single misplaced piece can collapse the entire structure — the stakes of each decision are quietly absolute.
- A precise sequence of placements, beginning with the 3/5 domino and unfolding across two distinct phases, offers solvers a reliable path through the puzzle's interlocking constraints.
- By the final placements — the 5/6 filling Purple's inequality section and the 3/3 closing out Purple 6 — the grid resolves completely, every rule honored and every tile accounted for.
Sunday morning brings a new round of the New York Times Pips puzzle, and with it the familiar challenge of fitting numbered dominoes into a grid where every colored region carries its own rule — equality, inequality, totals above or below a threshold. The concept sounds simple until a single wrong placement sends the whole structure toward impossibility.
Today's three difficulty tiers follow their usual arc. The Easy and Medium puzzles reward methodical effort, their solutions available for quick reference. The Hard puzzle is the one worth lingering over. It presents as an equation — 14 minus 7 equals 7 — split across seven sections, with no blank tiles and no room for approximation.
Solving it unfolds in two phases. The first establishes the foundation: the 3/5 domino anchors Dark Blue into Green, the 6/6 completes that Green section, and a careful sequence of placements — 0/4, 5/5, 5/0, 1/2 — satisfies the early constraints. The second phase works through the central sections, with the 6/3 and 3/1 dominoes threading through Purple, Orange, and Pink, and the 2/2 settling into the Orange equality region.
The final moves seal the grid: 4/2 into Pink, 0/2 bridging Orange into Dark Blue, 5/6 resolving the Purple inequality, and 3/3 closing the last open space. Every domino placed, every condition met. The puzzle's deeper lesson is the one Pips always offers — constraints don't obstruct solutions, they create them. There is usually only one path forward. The work is simply finding it.
Sunday morning, and there's a puzzle waiting. The New York Times Pips game has returned with its usual three tiers of difficulty, and for those who want to check their work—or need a nudge—the solutions are here.
Pips is a deceptively simple concept wrapped in layers of constraint. You're given a grid divided into colored regions, each region governed by a rule. Some sections demand that all numbers be equal. Others insist they must not be equal. Some require totals greater than or less than a specific number. Your job is to place dominoes—each with two numbered sides—into the grid, using every single domino, satisfying every single condition. It sounds straightforward until you're staring at a grid and realizing that one wrong placement cascades into impossibility.
The game comes in three difficulty levels, and today's offerings follow that familiar arc. The Easy and Medium puzzles yield to methodical work, their solutions available for immediate reference. But the Hard puzzle deserves closer attention. It presents itself as an equation: 14 minus 7 equals 7. The grid is split into seven separate sections, which at first glance makes the puzzle look more intimidating than it actually plays. There are several doubles among the dominoes available, and one of them—a 2/2—must go into the Orange equality section. Critically, there are no blank tiles to work with. Every square demands a number.
Solving it requires a specific sequence. Begin with the 3/5 domino, placing it from Dark Blue 3 into Green 17, then follow with the 6/6 domino to complete that Green section. The 0/4 domino bridges from Pink's less-than-3 constraint into Dark Blue 14, with the 5/5 domino filling the remaining Dark Blue space. The 5/0 domino travels from Blue 5 down into Green 1, while the 1/2 domino connects Green 1 into Blue's less-than-4 region. This first phase establishes the foundation.
The second phase shifts focus to the central sections. The 6/3 domino moves from Purple 6 down into Orange 6, then the 3/1 domino continues from Orange 6 into Pink 1. The 2/2 domino occupies the top tiles of the Orange equality section, and the 2/6 domino bridges from Orange down into Blue 14. At this point, the puzzle is nearly complete, but precision remains essential.
The final placements seal it. The 4/2 domino goes from Purple's greater-than-3 constraint into Pink 2. The 0/2 domino moves from Orange's less-than-2 constraint into Dark Blue 2. The 5/6 domino fills the Purple inequality section, and the 3/3 domino completes the Purple 6 area. The grid is now full, every condition satisfied, every domino used.
For those playing along at home, the Easy and Medium solutions are available for quick comparison. For those who worked through the Hard puzzle and want to verify their approach, the walkthrough above maps the exact sequence. And for those who simply want to understand how the puzzle works before attempting it themselves, the framework is clear: constraints breed solutions, and in Pips, there's usually only one path forward—you just have to find it.
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What makes Pips different from a standard crossword or Sudoku?
It's the physicality of it, in a way. You're not filling in letters or numbers abstractly. You're rotating actual dominoes and fitting them into spaces. Each domino has two sides, and you have to think about both halves simultaneously while respecting the constraints of the colored regions.
So the difficulty isn't just about more constraints—it's about the spatial reasoning?
Exactly. Easy puzzles might have one or two conditions per region. Hard puzzles have multiple overlapping conditions, and you have to find the one sequence of placements that satisfies all of them at once. Today's Hard puzzle has no free tiles, which means there's nowhere to hide a mistake.
Why does the author mention being on vacation in Vancouver?
It's a small human touch. The author is solving the puzzle from Canada while worried about wildfires back home. It grounds the puzzle-solving in actual life—this isn't just a mechanical exercise, it's something people do on Sunday mornings while thinking about other things.
Is there usually only one solution to these puzzles?
Not always. Sometimes there are multiple valid solutions. But today's Hard puzzle, with its tight constraints and zero blank tiles, likely has only one path. That's what makes the walkthrough useful—it's not just one possible answer, it's probably the answer.
What's the appeal of publishing solutions if people could just try the puzzle themselves?
Some people want to verify their work. Others want to learn the strategy before attempting it. And some just want to understand how the puzzle works without the frustration. It's not about spoiling the fun—it's about meeting people where they are.