Stuck on today’s NYT Pips puzzle? You’re in the right place. Below are full hints and complete tile solutions for all three difficulty levels — Easy, Medium, and Hard — for March 15, 2026.
What Is NYT Pips?
NYT Pips is a single-player domino puzzle released by The New York Times in August 2025. Like traditional dominoes, tiles are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other — but Pips adds a twist: color-coded zones with specific conditions you must satisfy.
Here are the condition types you’ll encounter:
- Number: All pips in the space must add up to the given number.
- Equal: Every domino half in the space must show the same pip count.
- Not Equal: Every domino half in the space must show a different pip count.
- Less Than: Every domino half in the space must be less than the given number.
- Greater Than: Every domino half in the space must be greater than the given number.
If a zone has no color coding, there are no conditions on the tiles placed there. The game currently offers no partial hints — it only reveals the full puzzle — so this guide gives you the piecemeal help you need to work through each level at your own pace.
Easy Difficulty — March 15, 2026
Hints
- One zone requires everything to equal zero.
- Another zone requires everything to equal five.
- A third zone requires tiles to add up to ten.
Easy Answers
Equal (0): Everything in this space must be equal to 0.
- 0-0, placed horizontally
- 0-3, placed vertically
Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5.
- 4-5, placed horizontally
- 5-5, placed horizontally
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10.
- 4-5, placed horizontally
- 3-6, placed horizontally
Medium Difficulty — March 15, 2026
Hints
- Look for a zone where tiles must add up to 2.
- One zone enforces a “less than 1” condition — only a blank half will satisfy it.
- There’s a zone requiring equality at 3, and another requiring equality at 2.
- Two number zones target totals of 5 and a “greater than 10” condition.
Medium Answers
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2.
- 1-2, placed vertically
- 5-1, placed vertically
Less Than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1., placed vertically
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5.
- 1-2, placed vertically
- 3-4, placed horizontally
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2.
- 0-2, placed vertically
- 2-5, placed horizontally
Greater Than (10): Everything in this space must be greater than 10.
- 2-5, placed horizontally
- 3-6, placed vertically
Hard Difficulty — March 15, 2026
Hints
- Several zones target number totals: 1, 2, 4, 10, 11, 12 all appear.
- Watch for two separate zones both targeting 12 — they use different tiles.
- Two zones target “greater than 2” and one targets “less than 2.”
- An Equal (4) zone requires three tiles; an Equal (3) zone requires two.
- A “Not Equal” zone demands every domino half in the space to be distinct.
Hard Answers
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10.
- 5-5, placed horizontally
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2.
- 3-4, placed vertically
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2.
- 2-4, placed vertically
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4.
- 3-4, placed vertically
- 2-4, placed vertically
- 4-0, placed vertically
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2.
- 4-0, placed vertically
Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12.
- 6-6, placed vertically
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4.
- 4-6, placed horizontally
Number (11): Everything in this space must add up to 11.
- 4-6, placed horizontally
- 5-6, placed horizontally
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1.
- 1-6, placed vertically
Number (12): Everything in this space must add up to 12.
- 5-6, placed horizontally
- 1-6, placed vertically
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2.
- 2-2, placed horizontally
Equal (3): Everything in this space must be equal to 3.
- 3-3, placed horizontally
- 3-5, placed horizontally
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2.
- 3-5, placed horizontally
Less Than (2): Everything in this space must be less than 2.
- 0-0, placed horizontally
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1.
- 1-1, placed horizontally
Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different.
- 0-2, placed horizontally
- 1-1, placed horizontally
- 6-0, placed horizontally
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2.
- 6-0, placed horizontally
Tips for Solving NYT Pips Faster
- Start with the most constrained zones first. Conditions like Equal (0) or Less Than (1) leave almost no room for error, so locking those in early eliminates wrong placements elsewhere.
- Pay attention to tile orientation. Whether a domino sits horizontally or vertically changes which half falls inside a color-coded zone — a tile that works one way may violate the rule when rotated.
- Use number zones as anchors. If a zone requires a total of 12, you know a 6-6 is likely involved. Work outward from high-value fixed points.
- The Hard grid rewards patience over speed. With multiple overlapping zones, especially the two separate Number (12) conditions, map out which tiles can zones before committing.
More NYT Pips Answers
- March 12, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers
- March 11, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers
- March 9, 2026 NYT Pips Hints and Answers