The weekend has arrived, dearest Pipsqueaks, and with it rain. So much rain! It’s quite glorious. I know that many of you probably live in places where it rains all the time. There is nothing glorious about a rainy day in your opinion. I would feel the same if I lived in a wetter region. But I live in the desert and it’s dry and rain is like mana from heaven. One almost hates to be stuck inside writing when you could be sipping hot cocoa and watching the rain through one’s window. Why don’t we hurry up and solve this Pips so we can do just that?
Looking for Friday’s Pips? Read our guide right here.
How To Play Pips
In Pips, you have a grid of multicolored boxes. Each colored area represents a different “condition” that you have to achieve. You have a select number of dominoes that you have to spend filling in the grid. You must use every domino and achieve every condition properly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers.
Here’s an example of a difficult tier Pips:
Pips example
Screenshot: Erik Kain
As you can see, the grid has a bunch of symbols and numbers with each color. On the far left, the three purple squares must not equal one another (hence the equal sign crossed out). The two pink squares next to that must equal a total of 0. The zig-zagging blue squares all must equal one another. You click on dominoes to rotate them, and will need to since they have to be rotated to fit where they belong.
Not shown on this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < signs, the total of those tiles must be greater or less than the listed number. It varies by grid. Blank spaces can have anything. The various possible conditions are:
- = All pips must equal one another in this group.
- ≠ All pips must not equal one another in this group.
- > The pip in this tile (or tiles) must be greater than the listed number.
- < The pip in this tile must be less than the listed number.
- An exact number (like 6) The pip must equal this exact number.
- Tiles with no conditions can be anything.
In order to win, you have to use up all your dominoes by filling in all the squares, making sure to fit each condition. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.
NYT Pips Today: Hints and Answers for Saturday, October 4
Below are the solutions for the Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll walk you through the Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.
Easy
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Medium
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Hard
Here’s today’s Hard Pips:
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
There aren’t many dominoes here, which makes this look easier than it is. This is actually quite the puzzle, and I had to start over a couple times. The trick is, we can make the Pink 10 work with either two 5’s or with a 6 and a 4. Only, we’ll need the 4’s for the Dark Blue 4 tile and to make the Blue 7 work and we’ll need at least one 6 to make Orange 9 work (we won’t have enough to make Blue 7 worth with a 6/1 combo).
Step 1
Start by placing the 6/5 domino from Green >4 into Pink 10. Then place the 5/4 domino sideways from Pink 10 into Blue 7.
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Step 2
Next, place the 3/6 domino from Blue 7 into Orange 9 and the 4/0 domino from Dark Blue 4 into the free tile.
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
Solution
Finally, add the 5/3 domino from Purple 5 into the free tile and the 3/1 domino from Orange 9 into the final free tile, and you’re all done.
Today’s Pips
Screenshot: Erik Kain
This all sounds simple enough, but there are so many different ways you can make most of this Pips work but you’ll end up coming up short in the end. I kind of like these smaller Hard Pips. They present a totally different kind of challenge.
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Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2025/10/10/nyt-pips-hints-walkthrough-and-solutions—saturday-october-11/
