TodayHint

Pips August 9, 2026: Hints & Answers

Constructed by Ian Livengood, Ian Livengood, Rodolfo Kurchan, edited by Ian Livengood.

Recap

The NYT Pips puzzle for 2026-08-09 features three boards of increasing difficulty, each with unique region constraints and domino placements. The easy board has simple region constraints, while the medium board introduces sum constraints. The hard board is the most challenging, with numerous regions and complex constraints requiring careful elimination and strategic thinking to solve.

The three boards that day

The tray and each region's rule — board data, no solutions.

Easy board · 5 dominoes · 6 regions

6–64–12–02–45–1

  • 4 ×two cells: all matching.
  • one cell: more than 4.
  • one cell: under 1.

Easiest board due to simple region constraints

Medium board · 7 dominoes · 8 regions

3–62–24–65–55–25–16–1

  • two cells: exactly 8.
  • two cells: exactly 6.
  • two cells: all matching.
  • two cells: under 4.
  • one cell: left uncovered.
  • one cell: more than 2.
  • three cells: all matching.
  • one cell: more than 1.

Moderate difficulty due to increased region complexity

Hard board · 16 dominoes · 19 regions

6–00–13–41–62–43–61–26–42–21–34–41–56–25–41–15–6

  • two cells: exactly 8.
  • 3 ×one cell: more than 5.
  • one cell: left uncovered.
  • 2 ×two cells: all matching.
  • three cells: all matching.
  • two cells: exactly 0.
  • one cell: exactly 2.
  • three cells: exactly 15.
  • two cells: exactly 2.
  • one cell: exactly 4.
  • 2 ×one cell: under 4.
  • one cell: more than 4.
  • five cells: exactly 7.
  • one cell: under 3.
  • one cell: under 2.

Most challenging board due to numerous regions and complex constraints

Pips hints, one rung at a time

Six rungs, easy board first. The recap above already named the walkthroughs, so this ladder is here for anyone replaying the boards fresh rather than as a spoiler shield.

  1. How the three boards compared

    Sizes and constraint mixes, counted off the boards.

    Easy board
    5 dominoes, 6 regions (4 equals, 1 greater, 1 less)
    Medium board
    7 dominoes, 8 regions (2 equals, 2 greater, 2 sum, 1 empty, 1 less)
    Hard board
    16 dominoes, 19 regions (7 sum, 4 greater, 4 less, 3 equals, 1 empty)
    Back to the board inventories
  2. Easy board: how to approach it

    Method only.

    Start by identifying regions with unique domino fits, then use elimination to narrow down options

  3. Easy board: where to start

    One region named by its constraint.

    Solve the region with a greater constraint first

  4. Medium board: approach and first region

    The same two steps, one difficulty up.

    Focus on regions with sum constraints to limit domino combinations

    Begin with the region that has a sum constraint over 2 cells

  5. Hard board: how to approach it

    Where the hard board differed in kind, not just size.

    Use a combination of elimination and region constraints to narrow down domino placements

  6. Hard board: where to start

    The last rung before the full walkthroughs.

    Start with the region that has a sum constraint over 3 cells

    Open the full walkthroughs

Every Pips walkthrough from that day

All three walkthroughs, folded: each one places every domino on its board, one after another.

  • Easy board · 5 dominoes

    Easy board walkthrough

    Place the 6/6 domino in the top region, then the 4/1 domino below it. The 2/0 domino fits in the middle, and the 2/4 and 5/1 dominoes fill in the remaining spaces.

  • Medium board · 7 dominoes

    Medium board walkthrough

    Place the 3/6 domino in the sum 8 region, then the 5/5 domino in the equals region. The 5/2 and 5/1 dominoes fit in the remaining sum regions, and the 2/2 and 6/1 dominoes fill in the less and greater regions.

  • Hard board · 16 dominoes

    Hard board walkthrough

    Begin by placing the 6/0 domino in the sum 8 region, then the 0/1 domino in the empty region. The 3/4 domino fits in the sum 7 region, and the 1/6 domino fills in the sum 15 region. Continue placing dominoes, using elimination and region constraints to guide the process. The 2/4, 3/6, 1/2, 6/4, 2/2, 1/3, 4/4, 1/5, 6/2, 5/4, 1/1, and 5/6 dominoes all have unique placements based on the region constraints.

Those boards by the numbers

Date
Sunday, August 9, 2026
Boards
3 — easy, medium, hard
Dominoes in play
28 across the three boards
Easy board
5 dominoes · 6 regions
Medium board
7 dominoes · 8 regions
Hard board
16 dominoes · 19 regions

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