Spoilers: The strongest opening deduction for the September 20, 2026, NYT Pips Hard puzzle is that the top-center cell marked “less than 2” must contain 0. The completed board uses 14 dominoes across 28 cells. Below are progressive hints, the solved region values, and every domino placement by coordinate.
How to read the September 20 Hard board
Pips is a domino-placement logic game: cover the board with the available tiles while meeting the rules printed on its regions. An exact-sum region must add to its stated total; an equal region must contain the same pip value in every cell; and a greater-than or less-than region compares the region total with its threshold. Unmarked cells still need to be covered, but have no additional numerical rule. The game is played digitally through NYT Games or its app.
This guide concerns the Hard board only. NYT Pips presents separate Easy, Medium, and Hard boards; they are not simply different hint levels for a single board. For September 20, EnergyPips reports 5 tiles for Easy, 7 for Medium, and 14 for Hard. The Hard board has 28 cells and 15 rule regions, according to EnergyPips (2026).
Progressive hints
Hint 1: Start with the tightest cell
At the top center, a single cell is marked “less than 2.” Its value can only be 0 or 1 in isolation. In the completed solution it is 0.
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Hint 2: Track the doubles
The Hard tray contains four doubles: 2-2, 5-5, 0-0, and 1-1. These can help anchor all-equal regions, but do not assume every double belongs in one of them: follow tile use across the whole board.
Hint 3: Check the solution if you need the supplying tile
The hint listing establishes that the top-center “less than 2” cell is 0 but does not identify the tile half that supplies it. The placement list below gives that detail: the 5-0 tile occupies r2c6 and r1c6, with 0 at r1c6.
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Hard region values
The following values satisfy the board’s printed rules. EnergyPips and dailycryptic report matching region values; the puzzle-specific region count and values are third-party reported rather than an official NYT walkthrough.
| Rule and location | Filled values |
|---|---|
| Less than 3, top-left single cell | 1 |
| Greater than 3, top-center single cell | 5 |
| Less than 2, top-center single cell | 0 |
| Equal, top-center 3-cell block | 1, 1, 1 |
| Equal, middle-left 5-cell block | 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 |
| Sum 8, middle-center 2-cell column | 2, 6 |
| Greater than 4, middle-center single cell | 5 |
| Greater than 3, middle-center single cell | 4 |
| Greater than 3, middle-left single cell | 4 |
| Sum 10, middle-center 2-cell row | 5, 5 |
| Sum 5, middle-center 2-cell column | 3, 2 |
| Greater than 4, middle-center single cell | 5 |
| Sum 9, middle-center 3-cell row | 1, 6, 2 |
| Less than 2, middle-center single cell | 0 |
| Equal, middle-center 3-cell column | 2, 2, 2 |
Every Hard domino placement
Coordinates start at the board’s top-left: rows and columns are numbered from 1. Each tile’s two cells are listed in the order shown, with the value at each cell specified so its orientation is unambiguous. The 14 placements below are reported identically by EnergyPips and dailycryptic.
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| Tile | Cell placements and values |
|---|---|
| 5-0 | r2c6 = 5; r1c6 = 0 |
| 2-2 | r8c4 = 2; r9c4 = 2 |
| 1-0 | r1c1 = 1; r2c1 = 0 |
| 5-5 | r4c3 = 5; r4c4 = 5 |
| 2-0 | r6c5 = 2; r6c6 = 0 |
| 5-1 | r6c2 = 5; r6c3 = 1 |
| 2-6 | r7c4 = 2; r6c4 = 6 |
| 4-1 | r3c7 = 4; r2c7 = 1 |
| 5-2 | r1c4 = 5; r2c4 = 2 |
| 0-0 | r2c2 = 0; r3c2 = 0 |
| 3-2 | r4c7 = 3; r5c7 = 2 |
| 0-6 | r3c3 = 0; r3c4 = 6 |
| 1-1 | r1c8 = 1; r2c8 = 1 |
| 0-4 | r3c1 = 0; r4c1 = 4 |
Source and scope
EnergyPips identifies itself as independent and unaffiliated; it attributes the Hard board’s construction to Rodolfo Kurchan. Dailycryptic independently reports matching region values and domino placements. These are third-party solution reports, not an official NYT-published walkthrough. The figures above apply to this dated puzzle and should not be read as general counts for every Pips board.
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