NYT Pips Today: Hints, Answers And Walkthrough For Tuesday, February 24
It’s really rather melty up here in the mountains. We had a decent snow and now it’s all rapidly transforming into puddles. Nicer weather can’t coax me outside when I have puzzles to solve, and today’s NYT Pips — at least the Hard Pips — is a really doozy. Let’s solve it!
Looking for Monday’s Pip? Read our guide right here.
How To Play Pips
In Pips, you have a grid of multicolored boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” that you have to achieve. You have a select number of dominoes that you have to spend filling in the grid. You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers.
Here’s an example of a difficult tier Pips:
Pips example
Screenshot: Erik Kain
As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares must not equal one another (hence the equal sign crossed out). The two pink squares next to that must equal a total of 0. The zig-zagging blue squares all must equal one another. You click on dominoes to rotate them, and will need to since they have to be rotated to fit where they belong.
Not shown on this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. It varies by grid. Blank spaces can have anything. The various possible conditions are:
- = All pips must equal one another in this group.
- ≠ All pips must not equal one another in this group.
- > The pip in this tile (or tiles) must be greater than the listed number.
- < The pip in this tile must be less than the listed number.
- An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal this exact number.
- Tiles with no conditions can be anything.
In order to win, you have to use up all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure to fit each condition. Sometimes there’s only one way to solve the puzzle. Other times, there can be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.
Today’s Pips Solutions And Walkthrough
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.
Today’s Easy Pips
Easy Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Today’s Medium Pips
Medium Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Hard Pips Walkthrough And Solution
Here’s today’s Hard Pips:
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Today’s Hard Pips is comprised of four squares, each requiring four dominos, with almost all the conditions some version of four: a 4 tile, a group that must add up to four, an equals group comprised of four tiles. <4 and >4. There is once exception, and this is where we’ll begin.
Step 1
The bottom left square has one = group that is only made up of three tiles. I’m not sure if it’s an accident or on purpose, but that’s a clue. In any case, place the 5/1 domino from the Orange > 4 tile into Green 4 and the 1/1 tile after that in Green 4. The 1/3 domino goes into Blue = and the 3/3 tile finishes Blue = and the bottom left square.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 2
Hope over the top top right square and plop the 4/4 domino from Pink 4 into Blue 4. The 6/2 domino goes from Dark Blue > 4 into Orange 4 and the 2/0 domino goes from Orange 4 down into Pink 4. Finish this box off with the 0/0 domino.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 3
Swing over to the top left square and place the 3/4 domino from Blue < 4 into Pink 4. The 3/5 domino goes from Purple < 4 into Green > 4 and the 6/4 domino goes from Orange > 4 into Dark Blue 4. The 4/0 domino goes into both tiles of Purple 4.
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Solution
Finally, slide down to the bottom right square and place the 3/2 domino from Dark Blue < 4 into Purple 4. The 2/5 domino goes from Purple 4 into Pink = and the 5/5 domino slips into the next two Pink = tiles. Wrap this final square up with the 6/5 domino from Green > 4 into Pink = like so:
Hard Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Quite the challenging, dare I say diabolical, Hard Pips today! I got quite stuck and had to start over, even though my instincts were pretty solid for the first to squares I tackled. Sometimes you just don’t see what’s staring you in the face, and today I kept using the 4/0 domino in the wrong spot and not having what I needed for Purple 4. I got there eventually!
How’d you do on today’s Pips? Let me know!
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