Here’s a full step-by-step walkthrough of today’s Difficult Pips NYT puzzle. If you're searching for a reliable Pips NYT solution or a useful Pips NYT hint, this guide will walk you through the entire logic and placement process.
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Easy Hints
Medium Hints
Hard Hints
The puzzle begins with the following layout:
Today’s puzzle is a bit tricky from the start. With several Total groups, a couple of = groups, and just one > tile, there aren’t many obvious starting points. After scanning the board, I decided to use the Purple 24 group as my anchor—it’s large and has limited possibilities. Since there are no 6-pip dominoes in play, the only way to reach a total of 24 is with four 5-pip tiles and one 4-pip tile. With that Pips NYT hint in mind, I placed the 2/5 domino at the Pink > tile, connecting into the Purple 24 group.
Next, I turned my attention to the Dark Blue = group and the Green = group. Based on the available dominoes—especially the number of 3s and 4s—I deduced that the Dark Blue group would likely consist of 3s, and the Green group of 4s. There were more 4-pip dominoes available, so this felt like a safe assumption. I used the 0/4 domino and placed it at the Blue 0 tile, leading down into the Purple 4 group. Then, I placed the 1/5 domino between the Orange 4 tile and the Purple 24 group, followed by the 3/5 domino between the Dark Blue = tile and the Purple 24 group. Here’s what the board looked like at this stage:
This gave me a solid foundation. One entire section of the board was complete, and I had a clearer idea of how the remaining pieces would fit. I continued by placing the 2/4 domino between the Orange 4 tile and the Green = group. Then, I slotted the 3/4 domino between the Dark Blue = tile and the Green = group. To finish the Orange 4 group, I placed the 1/0 domino connecting to the Purple 0 tile. The board now looked like this:
With only three dominoes left, I knew I was close to the full Pips NYT solution—unless I’d made a mistake earlier. Fortunately, everything added up. I placed the 0/5 domino into the remaining open tile connected to the Purple 24 group, completing it. Next, the 1/4 domino fit perfectly into the last open slot in the Green = group. Finally, the 0/3 domino connected the Purple 0 tile with the last open space, wrapping up the entire puzzle. Here’s the completed board:
This puzzle required a bit of domino counting and deductive reasoning to get started. There were no instant giveaways, but once I identified the composition of the Purple 24 group, the rest fell into place relatively quickly. How did you do with today’s puzzle?
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