Pips Answers — August 18, 2025

    Official easy, medium, and hard domino placements for the NYT Pips puzzle from August 18, 2025.

    Pips Official Solution

    Monday, August 18, 2025

    Edited by Ian Livengood

    Official NYT data

    Pips is a domino-style logic puzzle. Place every domino so each colored region satisfies its math constraint.

    easy

    Puzzle #1
    3
    2
    2
    5
    2
    2
    6
    6
    Dominoes
    4
    Regions
    4

    Key constraints

    Open1 cell
    Equal values4 cells
    Sum 51 cell
    Sum 122 cells

    medium

    Puzzle #2
    3
    6
    4
    4
    6
    1
    2
    6
    6
    5
    Dominoes
    5
    Regions
    6

    Key constraints

    Less than 133 cells
    Open1 cell
    Sum 183 cells
    Less than 31 cell
    Sum 21 cell

    hard

    Puzzle #3
    1
    1
    1
    3
    6
    6
    1
    2
    6
    6
    3
    5
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
    6
    4
    5
    Dominoes
    10
    Regions
    10

    Key constraints

    Less than 32 cells
    Open1 cell
    Equal values2 cells
    Equal values2 cells
    Sum 11 cell

    Anchor the tightest regions first

    Single-cell sums, zero targets, and strict greater-than or less-than regions usually eliminate most dominoes.

    Track domino inventory

    Every domino appears once. If a number is rare in the tray, protect it for regions that cannot use alternatives.

    Verify both halves

    A domino placement only works when both covered cells satisfy their region constraints and adjacency.

    Pips placements come from NYT official puzzle data.

    ← Browse all past Pips answers

    Pips strategy & tips

    How Pips works

    Pips is a domino-placement logic puzzle. You’re given a set of dominoes and a board divided into colored regions, and you must place every domino so that each region satisfies its rule. The pips (dots) on the domino halves are the values you’re arranging — the whole puzzle is about making the numbers in each region obey its constraint.

    Like Sudoku, there’s exactly one valid arrangement, so every placement is a deduction, not a guess — if you’re guessing, there’s usually a forced move you’ve missed.

    Learn the region constraint types

    Each region carries a rule, and recognizing the type tells you how to attack it:

    • Sum regions — the pips in the region must add up to a target. Start here; they’re the most constraining.
    • Equal regions — every cell in the region must hold the same value. These pin down dominoes fast once one cell is known.
    • Comparison regions (greater/less than) — values must increase or stay within a relationship; use them to order placements.
    • Empty / blank constraints — some regions must total zero or stay unfilled, which removes options elsewhere.

    A solving order that works

    Begin with the most constrained regions — a small sum region with a high or very low target often has only one or two legal domino values. Place those, then use the half-values they lock in to constrain neighboring regions.

    Because a domino spans two cells (often two regions), each placement does double duty: it satisfies one region while feeding a known value into the next. Chain these forced placements rather than scanning the whole board repeatedly.

    Difficulty differences

    Pips ships in easy, medium, and hard each day. Easy boards have small regions and generous constraints, so direct deduction clears them. Hard boards layer overlapping regions where a single domino’s two halves must satisfy two different rules at once — there you’ll lean on elimination (“this value can’t go here, so it must go there”) more than direct placement.

    When you’re stuck

    List the dominoes you have left and the values each open region still needs. The intersection is usually tiny. If a region needs a value no remaining domino can supply in that orientation, an earlier placement was wrong — back up rather than forcing it.

    A new Pips puzzle is published daily in all three difficulties.

    More NYT puzzle help