These hints and answers are for the NYT Pips puzzle dated Thursday, November 13, 2025. Start with the Hard-tier clues below and stop before the spoiler section if you want to solve it yourself. The available text walkthrough gives Hard placements; Easy and Medium answers were shown only in images, so their placements cannot be reliably reproduced here.
How NYT Pips works
Pips is a domino-placement puzzle: use every supplied domino to fill the board while meeting the condition shown in each colored region. Conditions can require equal values (=), different values (≠), a greater-than or less-than total, an exact value, or no restriction. For a multi-cell greater-than or less-than region, the total of its pips is compared with the displayed number. Some puzzles may have more than one valid solution. As Forbes contributor Erik Kain puts it, “You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win.” Forbes’ November 12 guide provides the rule explanation and Hard walkthrough.
Hard hints
- Begin with Orange < 1. It needs two blank tiles, and the two blank-containing dominoes are 0/6 and 0/4.
- Place 0/6 from Orange < 1 into Dark Blue 18, which needs three 6s. Put 0/4 next to it, extending upward into Blue =; place 4/2 beside it, extending to Purple 3.
- Continue by placing 6/4 from Dark Blue 18 into Pink 10, then 1/6 from Purple 3 into Pink 10. Place 6/3 from Dark Blue 18 into Green 6, followed by 3/3 from Green 6 into Pink ≠.
- To finish, place 2/2 from Purple < 3 into Pink ≠, then 1/1 from Orange 1 into its remaining tile. Put 5/5 in Blue 10.
Hard answer: full placement sequence
Spoiler: The complete sequence is 0/6 from Orange < 1 into Dark Blue 18; 0/4 beside it up into Blue =; 4/2 beside that, reaching Purple 3; 6/4 from Dark Blue 18 into Pink 10; 1/6 from Purple 3 into Pink 10; 6/3 from Dark Blue 18 into Green 6; 3/3 from Green 6 into Pink ≠; 2/2 from Purple < 3 into Pink ≠; 1/1 from Orange 1 into the last Pink ≠ tile; and 5/5 in Blue 10.
Easy and Medium answers
The guide presents the Easy and Medium solutions as screenshots rather than transcribed placements. Their answers are therefore not listed here. A separate Yahoo Tech search-result excerpt says “3-5, placed horizontally,” but does not identify its difficulty tier; it cannot be safely assigned to Easy, Medium, or Hard. Yahoo Tech
Quick Recap
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