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NYT Pips answers — Thursday, December 11, 2025

Pips #116 · Edited by Ian Livengood · Easy by Ian Livengood · Medium by Ian Livengood · Hard by Rodolfo Kurchan

Stuck on today's New York Times Pips? Below are three progressive hints for each difficulty, then the full solution as a tap-to-reveal board. Hints first — the answer only when you want it.

Jump to: Easy · Medium · Hard

Easy Pips answer — December 11, 2025

3×6 board · 5 dominoes · 7 regions · by Ian Livengood

5 dominoes, 7 regions, a 3×6 grid — that's the easy puzzle for December 11, 2025. You're working with 2 sum regions, 2 "greater than", 3 free regions. The way in: the single cell at row 1, column 1 is marked 5, so it can only hold a 5. Rack check: 2 doubles, 1 blank half, 2 sixes.

Hints

Hint 1 — where to start

The single cell at row 1, column 1 is marked 5, so it can only hold a 5. Find the domino with a 5 that fits there.

Hint 2 — first domino

Place the 5–3 domino with its 5 at row 1, column 1 and its 3 at row 1, column 2.

Hint 3 — second domino

Next, the 6–6 goes at row 2, column 4 → row 2, column 5. From there the rest should fall into place.

Solution

Tap any cell to reveal its pips, or reveal the whole board. Region rules: 5 must add up to 5; >3 must add up to more than 3; 9 must add up to 9.

5
>3
9
>3
Solution as text
  1. 2–4 — 2 at row 3, column 4, 4 at row 3, column 3
  2. 5–3 — 5 at row 1, column 1, 3 at row 1, column 2
  3. 6–6 — 6 at row 2, column 4, 6 at row 2, column 5
  4. 2–2 — 2 at row 1, column 5, 2 at row 1, column 6
  5. 0–1 — 0 at row 2, column 2, 1 at row 2, column 3

Medium Pips answer — December 11, 2025

4×5 board · 8 dominoes · 12 regions · by Ian Livengood

Medium today is a 4×5 board with 8 dominoes and 12 regions. Rules on the board: 6 sum regions, 2 "all equal", 1 "greater than", 3 free regions. Best foothold — the single cell at row 1, column 5 is marked 6, so it can only hold a 6. After that, the single cell at row 2, column 3 is marked 4, so it can only hold a 4. Rack check: 3 doubles, 2 sixes.

Hints

Hint 1 — where to start

The single cell at row 1, column 5 is marked 6, so it can only hold a 6. Find the domino with a 6 that fits there.

Hint 2 — first domino

Place the 6–5 domino with its 6 at row 1, column 5 and its 5 at row 1, column 4.

Hint 3 — second domino

Next, the 5–4 goes at row 1, column 3 → row 2, column 3. From there the rest should fall into place.

Solution

Tap any cell to reveal its pips, or reveal the whole board. Region rules: 2 must add up to 2; 10 must add up to 10; 6 must add up to 6; 4 must add up to 4; >2 must add up to more than 2.

2
10
6
4
>2
2
=
6
=
Solution as text
  1. 2–2 — 2 at row 3, column 2, 2 at row 3, column 3
  2. 5–4 — 5 at row 1, column 3, 4 at row 2, column 3
  3. 4–6 — 4 at row 4, column 2, 6 at row 4, column 3
  4. 1–1 — 1 at row 1, column 1, 1 at row 1, column 2
  5. 2–5 — 2 at row 3, column 4, 5 at row 3, column 5
  6. 6–5 — 6 at row 1, column 5, 5 at row 1, column 4
  7. 5–5 — 5 at row 4, column 4, 5 at row 4, column 5
  8. 1–3 — 1 at row 2, column 4, 3 at row 2, column 5

Hard Pips answer — December 11, 2025

6×5 board · 11 dominoes · 10 regions · by Rodolfo Kurchan

The hard board runs 6 rows by 5 columns: 11 dominoes to place across 10 regions. Rules on the board: 5 sum regions, 3 "all equal", 1 "greater than", 1 free region. The way in: the two-cell region at row 5, column 2 adds to 0: both cells must be 0. After that, the "=" region starting at row 1, column 2 has 3 cells that must all match — every 2 in the puzzle should come here.. Rack check: 2 doubles, 2 blank halves, 2 sixes.

Hints

Hint 1 — where to start

The two-cell region at row 5, column 2 adds to 0: both cells must be 0. That's the 0–0 domino, or two 0s from different dominoes.

Hint 2 — first domino

Place the 0–4 domino with its 0 at row 5, column 2 and its 4 at row 5, column 1.

Hint 3 — second domino

Next, the 2–2 goes at row 1, column 2 → row 1, column 3. From there the rest should fall into place.

Solution

Tap any cell to reveal its pips, or reveal the whole board. Region rules: = must all be the same number; >1 must add up to more than 1; 10 must add up to 10; 9 must add up to 9; 0 must add up to 0.

=
>1
=
10
9
9
10
0
=
Solution as text
  1. 1–3 — 1 at row 2, column 1, 3 at row 1, column 1
  2. 6–5 — 6 at row 3, column 4, 5 at row 3, column 3
  3. 0–4 — 0 at row 5, column 2, 4 at row 5, column 1
  4. 2–2 — 2 at row 1, column 2, 2 at row 1, column 3
  5. 1–5 — 1 at row 3, column 1, 5 at row 3, column 2
  6. 0–3 — 0 at row 5, column 3, 3 at row 5, column 4
  7. 1–1 — 1 at row 6, column 3, 1 at row 6, column 4
  8. 4–3 — 4 at row 4, column 5, 3 at row 3, column 5
  9. 2–1 — 2 at row 5, column 5, 1 at row 6, column 5
  10. 1–6 — 1 at row 6, column 2, 6 at row 6, column 1
  11. 2–5 — 2 at row 1, column 4, 5 at row 1, column 5

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