NYT Pips is the New York Times’ domino-inspired daily puzzle, released in August 2025. It challenges players to place tiles across a grid while satisfying color-coded conditions — and unlike most NYT games, it offers no partial reveal option. If you’re stuck, your only in-game choice is to uncover the full puzzle and restart. That’s where this guide comes in.
Below you’ll find complete hints and answers for the April 14, 2026 Pips puzzle across all three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard.
How to Play NYT Pips
Pips uses domino-style tiles that can be placed either horizontally or vertically on a grid. The key mechanic is the color-coded zones, each carrying a specific numerical condition that the domino halves inside that zone must satisfy. Areas without any color coding have no restrictions.
Here’s a quick breakdown of the condition types you’ll encounter:
- Number: All pip values within this space must total the given number.
- Equal: Every domino half in this space must show the same pip count.
- Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must show a different pip count.
- Less Than: Every domino half in this space must show fewer pips than the number listed.
- Greater Than: Every domino half in this space must show more pips than the number listed.
Note that a single domino tile can straddle two different zones, meaning only one half needs to meet a given zone’s condition.
Easy Difficulty — April 14, 2026 Hints and Answers
Purple zone — Equal (2): Every domino half here must show 2 pips.
- Answer: 2-1 placed horizontally; 2-2 placed vertically.
Red zone — Less Than (2): The domino half here must have fewer than 2 pips.
- Answer: 2-1 placed horizontally.
Yellow zone — Equal (6): Every domino half here must show 6 pips.
- Answer: 6-6 placed horizontally.
Light blue zone — Equal (3): Every domino half here must show 3 pips.
- Answer: 5-3 placed horizontally; 3-6 placed vertically.
Dark blue zone — Greater Than (5): Every domino half here must total more than 5.
- Answer: 3-6 placed vertically.
Medium Difficulty — April 14, 2026 Hints and Answers
Purple zone — Equal (1): Every domino half here must show 1 pip.
- Answer: 1-1 placed horizontally; 1-0 placed horizontally; 1-2 placed horizontally.
Red zone — Less Than (2): The domino half here must have fewer than 2 pips.
- Answer: 1-0 placed horizontally.
Light blue zone — Greater Than (2): The domino half here must show more than 2 pips.
- Answer: 4-2 placed vertically.
Yellow zone — Equal (1): Every domino half here must show 1 pip.
- Answer: 1-1 placed horizontally; 1-4 placed vertically.
Dark blue zone — Equal (2): Every domino half here must show 2 pips.
- Answer: 1-2 placed horizontally; 4-2 placed vertically; 2-0 placed vertically.
Green zone — Equal (3): Every domino half here must show 3 pips.
- Answer: 3-3 placed horizontally.
Hard Difficulty — April 14, 2026 Hints and Answers
Hard mode introduces more zones and more overlap between conditions, making each tile placement significantly more constrained.
Purple zone — Less Than (4): The domino half here must show fewer than 4 pips.
- Answer: 1-6 placed horizontally.
Red zone — Number (4): Everything here must total 4.
- Answer: 1-2 placed vertically; 2-3 placed vertically.
Light blue zone — Number (4): The domino half here must show 4 pips.
- Answer: 6-4 placed horizontally.
Yellow zone — Equal (3): Every domino half here must show 3 pips.
- Answer: 3-3 placed vertically; 2-3 placed vertically.
Dark blue zone — Equal (6): Every domino half here must show 6 pips.
- Answer: 6-6 placed vertically; 5-6 placed vertically; 6-2 placed vertically.
Green zone — Equal (2): Every domino half here must show 2 pips.
- Answer: 2-2 placed vertically; 6-2 placed vertically; 2-0 placed vertically.
Red zone — Number (3): The domino half here must show 3 pips.
- Answer: 3-4 placed horizontally.
Purple zone — Equal (0): Every domino half here must show 0 pips.
- Answer: 0-0 placed vertically; 2-0 placed vertically; 0-3 placed horizontally.
Light blue zone — Number (3): The domino half here must show 3 pips.
- Answer: 0-3 placed horizontally.
About NYT Pips
NYT Pips launched in August 2025 as part of the New York Times Games lineup. It reimagines the classic game of dominoes as a solo logic puzzle, blending spatial reasoning with numerical constraints across three escalating difficulty levels. Unlike Wordle or Connections, Pips doesn’t offer partial hints — the game either reveals everything or nothing, which makes external guides like this one especially useful. It has quickly become a popular fixture for puzzle fans who enjoy a more tactile, visual challenge to complement the word-based games in the NYT catalog.
More Daily Puzzle Answers
Looking for solutions to other daily NYT puzzles? Check out these recent guides on dotwordle.com:
- April 13, 2026 NYT Pips Puzzle Hints and Answers
- April 12, 2026 NYT Pips Puzzle Hints and Answers
- April 11, 2026 NYT Pips Puzzle Hints and Answers
- April 13, 2026 Wordle #1759 Hint and Answer
- April 13, 2026 NYT Connections Puzzle #1037 Hints and Answers
- “While Not in Use” — April 13, 2026 NYT Strands Hints and Answers
Shahid Maqsood is a digital entrepreneur and SEO specialist focused on building engaging web experiences. He is the creator of DotWordle, combining creativity with smart, user-friendly design.
