NYT Pips is the New York Times’ domino-inspired daily puzzle, released in August 2025. Each day brings three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard — each with a grid of color-coded zones that dictate how domino tiles must be placed. If you’re stuck and don’t want to forfeit the whole puzzle just to see one answer, you’re in the right place. Below are complete, spoiler-structured hints and answers for every zone in today’s April 18, 2026 Pips puzzle.
How to Play NYT Pips
If you’ve played dominoes before, you’ll feel right at home. Tiles are placed vertically or horizontally across the board, and each color-coded zone carries a specific condition that the domino halves within it must satisfy. Unlike traditional dominoes, touching tile ends don’t need to match — the conditions are color-zone specific.
Here’s a quick reference for the condition types you’ll encounter:
- Number: All the pips within this space must add up to the given number.
- Equal: Every domino half in this space must show the same number of pips.
- Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must show a different number of pips.
- Less Than: Every domino half in this space must total less than the given number.
- Greater Than: Every domino half in this space must total more than the given number.
If a zone has no color coding, there are no conditions for the tiles within it.
Easy Difficulty — April 18, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
Purple — Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11. Answer: 6-3, placed vertically; 5-5, placed horizontally.
Red — Number (9): Everything in this space must add up to 9. Answer: 5-5, placed horizontally; 2-0, placed vertically; 2-3, placed horizontally.
Light Blue — Equal (3): Every domino half in this space must show 3 pips. Answer: 2-3, placed horizontally; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Yellow — Equal (0): Every domino half in this space must show 0 pips. Answer: 2-0, placed vertically; 0-3, placed horizontally.
Medium Difficulty — April 18, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
Red — Less Than (3): Everything in this space must total less than 3. Answer: 2-4, placed vertically.
Purple — Less Than (7): Everything in this space must total less than 7. Answer: 0-0, placed vertically.
Light Blue — Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. Answer: 6-0, placed horizontally.
Yellow — Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. Answer: 2-4, placed vertically; 4-6, placed horizontally.
Dark Blue — Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. Answer: 2-2, placed horizontally.
Green — Number (6): Everything in this space must add up to 6. Answer: 4-3, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.
Purple — Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12. Answer: 4-6, placed horizontally; 6-2, placed horizontally.
Hard Difficulty — April 18, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers
Purple — Number (3): The domino half in this space must show 3 pips. Answer: 3-0, placed horizontally.
Red — Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0 pips. Answer: 3-0, placed horizontally; 0-4, placed vertically.
Dark Blue — Greater Than (0): The domino half in this space must show more than 0 pips. Answer: 1-0, placed horizontally.
Green — Number (0): The domino half in this space must show 0 pips. Answer: 1-0, placed horizontally.
Light Blue — Equal (5): Every domino half in this space must show 5 pips. Answer: 5-5, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally; 5-2, placed vertically.
Yellow — Equal (4): Every domino half in this space must show 4 pips. Answer: 0-4, placed vertically; 5-4, placed horizontally.
Purple — Number (3): The domino half in this space must show 3 pips. Answer: 6-3, placed horizontally.
Red — Equal (2): Every domino half in this space must show 2 pips. Answer: 4-2, placed horizontally; 5-2, placed vertically.
Light Blue — Less Than (5): Everything in this space must total less than 5. Answer: 1-1, placed vertically; 2-1, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.
Yellow — Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. Answer: 0-0, placed vertically.
Dark Blue — Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. Answer: 2-1, placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally.
Green — Equal (4): Every domino half in this space must show 4 pips. Answer: 4-4, placed horizontally.
Purple — Number (8): Everything in this space must add up to 8. Answer: 5-3, placed horizontally.
More NYT Pips Answers
Looking for solutions from other days? Here are recent Pips guides:
- April 16, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers
- April 15, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers
- April 14, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers
More Daily Puzzle Help
Playing other NYT games today? We have you covered:
- April 17, 2026 Wordle #1763 Hint and Answer
- “Shell Company” — April 17, 2026 NYT Strands Hints and Answers
- April 17, 2026 Hurdle Hints and Answers
- April 17, 2026 NYT Connections Sports Edition #571 Hints and Answers
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