NYT Pips answers — Friday, October 23, 2026
The NYT Pips answers for Friday, October 23, 2026: the solved easy, medium and hard boards are below, with the squares of every domino listed and three hints per level if you would rather solve it yourself.
Easy Pips answer
Pips row by row, top to bottom (· is a gap in the board)
1 3 4 5 5 2 4 4 2 6
Each domino and its squares
- 4–4 — 4 at row 1, column 3, 4 at row 2, column 3
- 3–1 — 3 at row 1, column 2, 1 at row 1, column 1
- 5–2 — 5 at row 1, column 4, 2 at row 2, column 4
- 6–5 — 6 at row 2, column 5, 5 at row 1, column 5
- 2–4 — 2 at row 2, column 1, 4 at row 2, column 2
Medium Pips answer
Pips row by row, top to bottom (· is a gap in the board)
6 2 · · 5 2 4 4 5 0 4 · 5 4 4 · · 2 1 ·
Each domino and its squares
- 2–2 — 2 at row 1, column 2, 2 at row 2, column 2
- 5–5 — 5 at row 3, column 1, 5 at row 4, column 1
- 4–4 — 4 at row 2, column 3, 4 at row 2, column 4
- 0–4 — 0 at row 3, column 2, 4 at row 3, column 3
- 1–4 — 1 at row 5, column 3, 4 at row 4, column 3
- 4–2 — 4 at row 4, column 2, 2 at row 5, column 2
- 5–6 — 5 at row 2, column 1, 6 at row 1, column 1
Hard Pips answer
Pips row by row, top to bottom (· is a gap in the board)
· 0 4 1 0 · 2 1 3 2 3 1 3 3 2 4 1 0 0 4 4 3 6 1 5 2 5 4 5 5 · 0 5 2 3 ·
Each domino and its squares
- 0–1 — 0 at row 3, column 6, 1 at row 2, column 6
- 0–2 — 0 at row 6, column 2, 2 at row 5, column 2
- 0–3 — 0 at row 1, column 5, 3 at row 2, column 5
- 0–4 — 0 at row 1, column 2, 4 at row 1, column 3
- 0–5 — 0 at row 4, column 1, 5 at row 5, column 1
- 1–2 — 1 at row 1, column 4, 2 at row 2, column 4
- 1–3 — 1 at row 2, column 2, 3 at row 2, column 3
- 1–4 — 1 at row 3, column 5, 4 at row 3, column 4
- 1–5 — 1 at row 4, column 6, 5 at row 5, column 6
- 2–3 — 2 at row 2, column 1, 3 at row 3, column 1
- 2–4 — 2 at row 3, column 3, 4 at row 4, column 3
- 2–5 — 2 at row 6, column 4, 5 at row 6, column 3
- 3–4 — 3 at row 3, column 2, 4 at row 4, column 2
- 3–5 — 3 at row 6, column 5, 5 at row 5, column 5
- 4–5 — 4 at row 5, column 4, 5 at row 5, column 3
- 3–6 — 3 at row 4, column 4, 6 at row 4, column 5
Rather solve it yourself?
Three hints per level, the last one placing the second domino.
Easy
Easy is 6 regions on a 2×5 grid, filled by 5 dominoes. You're working with 2 sum regions, 2 "all equal", 1 "greater than", 1 free region. Only a 6 beats 5, so the lone cell at row 2, column 5 is a 6. The rack holds 1 double, 1 six.
Hint 1: where to start
A one-cell region at row 1, column 2 asks for 3, which fixes that cell outright. Only dominoes carrying a 3 can reach it.
Hint 2: first domino
Place the 3–1 domino with its 3 at row 1, column 2 and its 1 at row 1, column 1.
Hint 3: second domino
Then put the 6–5 across row 2, column 5 and row 1, column 5; 3 dominoes to go.
Medium
The medium Pips has 14 cells to cover with 7 dominoes, split into 8 regions. You're working with 2 sum regions, 1 "all equal", 2 "less than", 2 "greater than", 1 free region. Another early foothold: under 2 in total at row 5, column 3? Zeros, plus at most one 1. The rack holds 3 doubles, 1 blank half, 1 six.
Hint 1: where to start
The "=" region starting at row 2, column 3 has 3 matching cells, all 4s. Every half with that number on the rack is a candidate for it.
Hint 2: first domino
Place the 4–4 domino with its 4 at row 2, column 3 and its 4 at row 2, column 4.
Hint 3: second domino
Then put the 1–4 across row 5, column 3 and row 4, column 3; 5 dominoes to go.
Hard
Hard is 32 regions on a 6×6 grid, filled by 16 dominoes. You're working with 31 sum regions, 1 free region. Another early foothold: the single cell at row 1, column 3 is marked 4, so it can only hold a 4. The rack holds 5 blank halves, 1 six.
Hint 1: where to start
Row 1, column 2 is a region of its own with target 0: that cell is a 0. Find the domino with a 0 that fits there.
Hint 2: first domino
Place the 0–4 domino with its 0 at row 1, column 2 and its 4 at row 1, column 3.
Hint 3: second domino
Then put the 1–2 across row 1, column 4 and row 2, column 4; 14 dominoes to go.