April 20, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers — Easy, Medium, and Hard Solutions

Today’s NYT Pips puzzle is live for April 20, 2026, and whether you’re breezing through Easy or grinding your way through Hard, this guide has every hint and full answer you need — broken down by difficulty so you don’t get spoiled before you’re ready.

What Is NYT Pips?

NYT Pips is a domino-based daily puzzle from the New York Times Games suite, released in August 2025. Each puzzle asks you to place domino tiles on a grid so that the pips (dots) on each tile satisfy color-coded conditions for their respective zones. Tiles can be placed vertically or horizontally, and only part of a tile may fall within a condition zone — so you always need to think about which half is being evaluated.

The condition types you’ll encounter include:

Number: All pips in the zone must add up to the stated number.
Equal: Every domino half in this space must show the same pip count.
Does Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must show a different pip count.
Less Than: Every domino half must be below the stated number.
Greater Than: Every domino half must exceed the stated number.

Zones without color coding have no pip restrictions at all. If you get completely stuck, the game will only offer to reveal the entire puzzle — so these piecemeal hints are your best option for a fair solve.

Easy Difficulty — April 20, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers

Purple zone — Number (24): Everything here must add up to 24. Think big numbers.

Red zone — Number (0): Every domino half must have exactly zero pips. Blank tiles only.

Light blue zone — Number (12): Everything here must add up to 12. A mix of mid-range tiles works well.

Easy Full Answers

Purple (24): 0-6 placed horizontally; 3-6 placed horizontally; 6-6 placed horizontally
Red (0): 0-3 placed horizontally; 0-0 placed horizontally
Light blue (12): 0-3 placed horizontally; 3-6 placed horizontally; 3-3 placed horizontally

Medium Difficulty — April 20, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers

Purple zone — Less Than (2): The domino half here must have fewer than 2 pips — so either 0 or 1.

Red zone — Greater Than (5): This half needs more than 5 pips, meaning only a 6 works.

Light blue zone — Equal (5): Every domino half in this zone must show exactly 5 pips.

Yellow zone — Equal (2): Every domino half must show exactly 2 pips.

Dark blue zone — Number (5): All pips in this zone must add up to 5.

Green zone — Equal (5): Same as the light blue condition — every half must show 5.

Purple zone (second) — Number (12): Everything in this zone must total 12.

Medium Full Answers

Purple (Less Than 2): 0-2 placed vertically
Red (Greater Than 5): 6-1 placed vertically
Light blue (Equal 5): 5-5 placed horizontally; 5-2 placed horizontally
Yellow (Equal 2): 0-2 placed vertically; 5-2 placed horizontally
Dark blue (Number 5): 6-1 placed vertically; 4-5 placed horizontally
Green (Equal 5): 5-0 placed horizontally; 4-5 placed horizontally
Purple (Number 12): 5-0 placed horizontally; 6-6 placed horizontally

Hard Difficulty — April 20, 2026 Pips Hints and Answers

Hard mode today is a complex puzzle with many overlapping zones. Work through each condition carefully before placing tiles, as several dominoes span multiple color zones.

Purple zone — Number (1): Everything here must total just 1. You’ll need near-blank tiles.

Red zone — Greater Than (1): The half here must exceed 1 pip — so 2 or higher.

Light blue zone — Number (0): This half must be exactly 0 pips.

Yellow zone — Number (2): Everything here must total 2.

Dark blue zone — Equal (2): Every domino half must show exactly 2 pips.

Green zone — Greater Than (1): The half here needs more than 1 pip.

Purple zone (second) — Greater Than (1): Another zone where the half must exceed 1 pip.

Red zone (second) — Does Not Equal: Every domino half in this large zone must be a different number — no two halves can match.

Light blue zone (second) — Number (2): This half must equal 2.

Dark blue zone (second) — Number (12): All pips here must total 12.

Green zone (second) — Number (0): This half must be exactly 0.

Purple zone (third) — Number (7): Everything here must total 7.

Light blue zone (third) — Greater Than (3): The half here must exceed 3 pips.

Yellow zone (second) — Greater Than (4): This half must have 5 pips specifically.

Dark blue zone (third) — Number (12): Another zone totaling 12.

Red zone (third) — Number (0): Everything here must total 0.

Hard Full Answers

Purple (Number 1): 1-2 placed vertically; 0-3 placed horizontally
Red (Greater Than 1): 0-3 placed horizontally
Light blue (Number 0): 0-1 placed horizontally
Yellow (Number 2): 0-1 placed horizontally; 1-4 placed vertically
Dark blue (Equal 2): 1-2 placed vertically; 2-2 placed horizontally
Green (Greater Than 1): 3-3 placed vertically
Purple (Greater Than 1): 1-3 placed vertically
Red (Does Not Equal): 2-2 placed horizontally; 3-3 placed vertically; 6-2 placed vertically; 0-0 placed horizontally; 4-4 placed horizontally; 5-5 placed vertically; 1-6 placed vertically
Light blue (Number 2): 6-2 placed horizontally
Dark blue (Number 12): 1-4 placed vertically; 4-4 placed horizontally; 4-0 placed vertically
Green (Number 0): 0-0 placed horizontally
Purple (Number 7): 2-4 placed vertically; 3-4 placed horizontally
Light blue (Greater Than 3): 3-4 placed horizontally
Yellow (Greater Than 4): 5-5 placed vertically
Dark blue (Number 12): 1-6 placed vertically; 6-0 placed horizontally
Red (Number 0): 4-0 placed vertically; 6-0 placed horizontally

More Daily Puzzle Help

Looking for hints on other NYT puzzles today? Check out these recent guides:

Shahid Maqsood

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.