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For the Friday, August 28, 2026 NYT Pips puzzle, start with the tightly constrained single-square region on each board, then use the hints below to reveal the regional values and full domino placements. The puzzle has easy, medium, and hard boards; answers are grouped by difficulty so you can stop before the spoilers you do not want.
Spoiler note: Each board’s first hint appears before its answer values. Continue to the regional values or tile placements only when you are ready to see them. Rows and columns in the placements are numbered from the top-left, starting at 1.
How to use the hints
Pips asks you to cover each board with the supplied dominoes while meeting the rule shown for every outlined region. A number is the required sum of the pips in that region; an equals sign requires matching values. The August 28 boards described here do not use a not-equal rule.
Start with a region that has few possible values, identify which domino halves could satisfy it, and then use those placements to narrow the neighboring regions. The independent answer page Anagrammer recommends this constraint-and-elimination approach; its general explanation is at Anagrammer’s August 28, 2026 Pips page.
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Easy board
The easy board has 10 squares, 5 dominoes, and 6 regions.
Hints
- Hint 1: Begin with the top-center single square marked =2. The answer page identifies this as the forced opening.
- Hint 2: The tray includes doubles 0-0 and 1-1. Keep them in mind while resolving the other regions.
- Hint 3: The opening square takes a value of 2.
Regional values
The top-center four-square region marked <1 is 0,0,0,0. The top-center single square marked =2 is 2; the middle-left single square is 2; the middle-right single square marked >2 is 5; the free middle-left single square is 3; and the middle-center two-square region marked =2 is 1,1.
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Complete tile placements
- 0-0 covers row 2, column 2 and row 3, column 2.
- 3-2 covers row 3, column 1 and row 2, column 1.
- 0-5 covers row 2, column 3 and row 2, column 4.
- 2-0 covers row 1, column 3 and row 1, column 2.
- 1-1 covers row 3, column 3 and row 4, column 3.
Medium board
The medium board has 14 squares, 7 dominoes, and 9 regions.
Hints
- Hint 1: Start at the top-center single-square region marked =3; its value is forced.
- Hint 2: There is one double in the tray: 3-3.
- Hint 3: The opening square takes a value of 3.
Regional values
The top-center single square marked =3 is 3. The top-center two-square equal region is 3,3; the top-center three-square equal region is 4,4,4; the top-right single square marked <5 is 0; the middle-right single square marked >5 is 6; the middle-left single square marked <3 is 1; the middle-center two-square region marked =11 is 6,5; the bottom-center two-square region marked =4 is 3,1; and the bottom-center single square marked <6 is 5.
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Complete tile placements
- 1-3 covers row 4, column 3 and row 4, column 2.
- 0-4 covers row 1, column 5 and row 1, column 4.
- 3-3 covers row 1, column 2 and row 1, column 3.
- 6-4 covers row 2, column 5 and row 2, column 4.
- 3-5 covers row 2, column 3 and row 3, column 3.
- 6-1 covers row 3, column 2 and row 3, column 1.
- 5-4 covers row 4, column 4 and row 3, column 4.
Hard board
The hard board has 26 squares, 13 dominoes, and 15 regions.
Hints
- Hint 1: Begin with the top-center single square marked =1 or the two-cell region marked =0; both are highly constrained.
- Hint 2: The tray contains one double: 0-0.
- Hint 3: The opening =1 square takes a value of 1.
Regional values
The top-left two-cell region marked =0 is 0,0; the top-center single square marked =1 is 1; the top-center two-cell region marked =10 is 4,6; the top-center two-cell region marked >10 is 5,6; another single square marked =1 is 1; and the top-center two-cell region marked =7 is 3,4. The middle-center single-square regions are 5, 2, and 0; the middle-center two-cell region marked =11 is 6,5; the middle-right two-cell region marked =2 is 0,2; and the middle-left single square is 3. At the bottom, the left equal pair is 1,1; the center two-cell region marked =7 is 2,5; and the four-cell region marked <2 is 0,1,0,0.
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Complete tile placements
- 3-5 covers row 1, column 7 and row 2, column 7.
- 6-1 covers row 1, column 5 and row 1, column 6.
- 0-2 covers row 4, column 8 and row 3, column 8.
- 4-1 covers row 1, column 3 and row 1, column 2.
- 0-6 covers row 2, column 5 and row 2, column 6.
- 3-1 covers row 3, column 1 and row 4, column 1.
- 5-2 covers row 1, column 4 and row 2, column 4.
- 4-0 covers row 1, column 8 and row 2, column 8.
- 1-2 covers row 4, column 2 and row 4, column 3.
- 0-0 covers row 1, column 1 and row 2, column 1.
- 5-6 covers row 2, column 2 and row 2, column 3.
- 1-0 covers row 4, column 6 and row 4, column 7.
- 5-0 covers row 4, column 4 and row 4, column 5.
About the answer sources
The August 28, 2026 answers and placements above are reported by independent answer pages, rather than verified against the official NYT board directly. EnergyPips identifies this Friday puzzle as constructed by Ian Livengood and notes that it is not affiliated with or endorsed by The New York Times. See EnergyPips’ August 28, 2026 answer page. Anagrammer independently lists the same date’s board counts and rule types.
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