NYT Pips Hints and Answers August 29, 2025
Today’s Pips puzzle was one of those that looks deceptively breezy at first, but halfway through, you realize you’ve accidentally created an unsolvable mess in the bottom right corner. The game’s got the vibe of dominoes, but with a twist that makes your brain do gentle cartwheels—tiles connect both by number and through these candy-colored rules, so even classic domino strategists get tripped up if they’re not careful.
If this is your first go, each colored space on the board imposes its own tricky restriction. Maybe the pips (that’s the dots on the dominoes, and yes, that’s really what they’re called) in a given zone have to total up to a specific value, or maybe every tile half has to boast the same number or all different ones. Sometimes the rules want “less than,” “more than,” or just good old-fashioned “be unique.” If there’s no color, just place what you want. Ah, freedom for once.
Below, you’ll find the answers for each difficulty, along with a little color commentary. Sometimes the best move is learning from mistakes—mine included.
NYT Pips (Easy) Solution for August 29, 2025
For easy mode today, the theme was “sure, you’ll figure it out… but not without guessing once or twice.” The answers landed like this:
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Number (3): You had to make everything in the space add up to 3—plugged an awkward little 1-3 vertical piece in there. That’s always a treat, because who ever thinks about the 1-3 domino in regular domino games?
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Equal (5): This space wanted every domino half to be a 5. Weirdly satisfying, honestly. You could go for the classic 5-5 horizontal, the vertical 0-5 (which feels silly to write out), or 5-4 horizontal. Tiny confession: I tried to use a 2-3 at first, until I remembered how numbers work.
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Number (4): Everything needed to sum to 4, so dropped a 5-4 horizontally. Overkill? Maybe. But if it fits, it sits.
I found this starter level to be all about catching the trick of “half in, half out” domino placement, which is easier said than done. The moment you realize the color zone only cares about the tile bits within… well, that changes things. Made me rethink a few “obvious” moves after some stubborn stares.
NYT Pips (Medium) Solution for August 29, 2025
The medium puzzle felt like it was designed by someone who wanted to gently push the boundaries of fair play. Here’s what you might’ve spotted on the board:
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Number (12): All tile halves in this space needed to total 12. Yeah, that’s a lot. Ended up working with a 6-2 horizontal and a 6-0 horizontal, which satisfies the math but barely fits the ego.
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Number (8): Had to sum to 8. Choices? A 5-4 horizontal (maybe slightly illogical, but it adds to 9—it’s possible this was a typo, or maybe there’s a trick here?) or a 4-0 horizontal, which looks like it shouldn’t work but does.
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Number (4): Played 6-0 horizontal (math!) or go with the reliable 2-2 horizontal. There’s just something about symmetric tiles that feels trustworthy.
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Number (4), yellow space version: Either 6-2 vertical or 2-0 vertical was the workaround here. I went vertical on instinct; it worked, and felt oddly satisfying.
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Number (0), dark blue: Everything here added up to, you guessed it, a big fat zero. The 4-0 horizontal, or the stalwart 2-0 vertical, made its cameo again.
It’s in the medium that you start to realize: don’t assume the whole domino needs to obey the rule. Only the part that’s actually touching the color counts. This makes the puzzle shift from straightforward to “wait, let me double-check that three more times”.
NYT Pips (Hard) Solution for August 29, 2025
Hard mode is where Pips gets delightfully maddening. Anyone who thinks they’re an old pro at dominoes walks in cocky—and winds up staring at the screen, muttering something about “just one more move.” Seriously, my tea went cold trying to crack this one:
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Number (9): Everything in this neon-lit zone totaled 9—went with 4-3 horizontal or 5-1 vertical. Not gonna lie, actually double-checked the addition in my head twice.
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Equal (1): All domino halves had to be 1. That gave options: 5-1 vertical, 2-1 vertical. Tight squeeze, mentally and on the board.
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Equal (2): This one tripped me up. All halves = 2 pips! Choices: 2-6 horizontal or 2-0 vertical. Felt like the puzzle wanted to trip up anyone rushing.
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Number (12): Bring on the big numbers. Used 2-6 horizontal or 6-0 vertical, depending on which way the puzzle wanted to cooperate.
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Number (2): Loving those tiny sums. Used 2-0 vertical, 6-0 vertical, or the nearly invisible 1-1 horizontal. Tiny pieces, big triumphs.
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Number (10): 5-3 vertical and 5-6 vertical were the stars here. Can’t tell you how many times I tried to use 4-6 or another six-letter combination from muscle memory.
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Number (3): Closed things out with a 5-3 vertical, though I had the urge to make it more complicated than it really was.
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Number (18): Phew—stacked a 5-6 vertical or a 6-6 horizontal. There’s a feeling of grandeur in hitting 18 with just two halves. If only school math worked that way.
The hard puzzle was a bit like finding my phone in the dark: I kept feeling around, sure the answer was right there, only to realize I’d been touching it the whole time. As always, once you see a path, everything feels embarrassingly obvious in hindsight.
