NYT ‘Pips’ Tips, Answers and Walkthroughs for Friday, July 3

How to play Pips

In Pips, you have a grid of colorful boxes. Each colored area represents a different “state” you must reach. You have a selected number of dominoes to use to fill the grid. You have to use every domino and win every situation correctly to win. There are Easy, Medium and Hard Tiers.

Here is an example of Pips for a heavy tier:

As you can see, the grid has a lot of symbols and numbers in each color. On the far left, the three purple squares are not equal (so the equal sign is crossed out). The two pink squares next to those must equal a total of 0. The jagged blue squares should all fit. You click on the dominoes to flip them, and you will need to rotate them to fit where they are.

What can be shown in this grid are other conditions, such as “less than” or “greater than.” If there are multiple tiles with > or < symbols, the sum of those tiles must be greater than or less than the number listed. It varies by grid. Empty spaces can contain anything. The various possible scenarios are:

• = All pipes must fit in this group.
• ≠ All pips must not be equal in this group.
• > The pipe in this tile (or tiles) must be larger than the number listed.
• < The pipe in this tile should be less than the number listed.
• An exact number (like 6) The pipe must fit this exact number.
• Shapeless tiles can be anything.

To win, you must use all your dominoes by filling all the squares, making sure you fit each position. Sometimes there is only one way to solve a puzzle. Sometimes, there can be two or more different solutions. Play today’s Pips puzzle here.

Today’s Solutions for Pips and Moves

Below are solutions for Easy and Medium tier Pips. After that, I’ll go with you on a Hard puzzle. Spoilers ahead.

Today Easy Pips

Today Medium Pips

Hard Pips Walkthrough and Solution

Here are today’s Hard Pips:

Today’s Hard Pips say “USA” which sounds like a day early, considering the 4th of July is tomorrow. Maybe they have something else planned: fireworks or a fourth party or something like that. Maybe they just wanted to come out ahead. This patriotic Pips puzzle has a great point to go.

Step 1

Place a 1/3 domino from Orange 1 to Dark Blue 3 and a 5/1 domino from Green 5 to Purple 2. A 1/0 domino from Purple 2 to Dark Blue = and we’ll wait to see what happens on the next tile. Place the 6/5 domino from Green 12 to Orange 10 and the 5/3 domino from Orange 10 to Purple 3.

Step 2

Move to “A” and place a 4/4 domino under the two Purple = tiles and a 4/6 domino from Purple = to Blue 12. A 4/3 domino from Purple = to Blue 5 and a 2/3 domino from Blue 5 to Pink 6. Place a 3/6 domino from Pink 6 to in Orange the tiles are 5/52 and Orange .

The solution

Place a 6/0 domino from green 12 to blue = and a 0/4 domino fro Blue = on the first free tile. A 0/2 domino moves from Dark Blue = to Pink 7 and a 5/4 domino moves from Pink 7 to the second free tile. A 2/2 domino fills the remaining free tiles.

Have fun preparing for your 4th of July festivities, which I suspect may include World Cup games.

How did you do in today’s Pips?

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