Pips hints and answers for Tuesday, October 27, 2026
Pips is the NYT domino logic game: place every domino from the tray so that each colored region obeys its rule - a number means the pips in that region add to it, an equals region means every half in it matches, and a not-equal region means no two halves match. Today brings three boards, edited by Ian Livengood: an Easy board by Livengood with 5 dominoes, then Medium and Hard boards by Rodolfo Kurchan with 7 and 13 dominoes. Each board gets its own hint ladder below, then its solved grid behind a tap.
Easy board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Ian Livengood · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Start with the middle row: it holds two equals pairs side by side, columns 2-3 matching each other and columns 4-5 matching each other, so look for two values the tray can supply twice in that row.
Three single cells are pinned almost exactly: the top-row cell in column 2 must be less than 2, the bottom-left cell must be exactly 2, and the bottom-right cell must also be exactly 2.
Place the 1-0 domino down column 2, rows 1-2: the 0 sits on the top row, where it satisfies the less-than-2 rule, and the 1 sits below it as one half of the first equals pair. The other half is the 1 from the 5-1 domino standing in column 3.
The Easy solution
The solved Easy board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 1-0 down column 2, rows 1-2 · 4-3 down column 4, rows 1-2 · 2-6 down column 1, rows 2-3 · 5-1 down column 3, rows 2-3 · 2-3 down column 5, rows 2-3
- Less than 2 0 = 0
- All equal 1 = 1
- All equal 3 = 3
- Adds to 2 2
- Greater than 2 5 = 5
- Adds to 2 2
- No rule 2 cells in blank regions, free to take any value
Medium board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Rodolfo Kurchan · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Start with the single cells: the cell in row 2, column 4 must be less than 1, so it can only be 0, and the cell in row 4, column 2 must be exactly 4.
The three-cell region across the top marked less than 4 contains 0, 3 and 0: the 0-3 domino stands in column 2, rows 1-2, supplying the 0 and the 3, and a second 0 arrives beside it from the 6-0 domino.
The greater-than-7 pair in column 1, rows 2-3, is the 2-6 domino standing upright: 2 on row 2 and 6 on row 3, making 8 in total. The pair that must add to 7 at the bottom is the 1-6 domino standing in column 4, rows 4-5.
The Medium solution
The solved Medium board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 0-3 down column 2, rows 1-2 · 2-6 down column 1, rows 2-3 · 6-0 down column 3, rows 2-3 · 2-0 down column 4, rows 2-3 · 4-4 down column 2, rows 3-4 · 2-3 down column 3, rows 4-5 · 1-6 down column 4, rows 4-5
- Less than 4 0 + 3 + 0 = 3
- Greater than 7 2 + 6 = 8
- Less than 1 0 = 0
- Less than 3 2 = 2
- Adds to 4 4
- Adds to 7 1 + 6
- Greater than 2 3 = 3
- No rule 3 cells in blank regions, free to take any value
Hard board - hints
Hint 0 of 3By Rodolfo Kurchan · Tap to show one hint at a time.
Start with the exact single cells: the top cell in column 3 must be 6, the cell in row 8, column 3 must beat 4, and the bottom cell in column 3 must be exactly 5.
Two equals regions anchor the board: four cells around the top-left, row 2, columns 1-3, plus row 3, column 2, are all 1s, and three cells in the middle, row 6, columns 4-5, plus row 7, column 4, are all 4s.
The four-cell column in column 3, rows 4-7, must add to 15, and it reads 2, 6, 2, 5 from top to bottom: the 2-6 domino stands there in rows 4-5, and the final 5 comes from the 5-5 domino standing in column 3, rows 7-8.
The Hard solution
The solved Hard board: every cell shows its pip count, then the placements and a check of every region rule.
Placements: 6-1 down column 3, rows 1-2 · 1-1 across row 2, columns 1-2 · 1-4 across row 3, columns 2-3 · 2-6 down column 3, rows 4-5 · 2-4 across row 6, columns 3-4 · 4-4 across row 6, columns 5-6 · 0-3 across row 6, columns 7-8 · 5-5 down column 3, rows 7-8 · 4-0 across row 7, columns 4-5 · 1-3 down column 6, rows 7-8 · 1-2 down column 8, rows 7-8 · 5-3 down column 3, rows 9-10 · 0-1 down column 6, rows 9-10
- Adds to 6 6
- Adds to 15 2 + 6 + 2 + 5
- Greater than 3 4 = 4
- All equal 4 = 4 = 4
- Adds to 7 4 + 3
- All different 0, 1, 2
- Adds to 4 0 + 1 + 3
- Greater than 4 5 = 5
- Less than 4 3 = 3
- Less than 2 0 + 1 = 1
- Adds to 5 5
- All equal 1 = 1 = 1 = 1