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Here are progressive hints and the full solutions for all three NYT Pips boards from Monday, August 31, 2026. Start with the hint for your difficulty, then open the answer details only when you are ready. Solutions are reported by EnergyPips, an independent puzzle site not affiliated with The New York Times; use the official NYT Pips game to play.
Spoilers: Hints come first in each difficulty section. The region values and domino placements below reveal the complete solution.
Easy: hints and answer for puzzle #1223
Progressive hints
- Begin with the single cell at the bottom right. Its value must be less than 3.
- The tray includes one double: 4–4.
- The bottom-right cell resolves to 1.
Region values
- Top-left single cell, less than 4: 3.
- Top-centre two-cell column, equal values: 5 and 5.
- Middle-centre two-cell row, equal values: 6 and 6.
- Middle-centre four-cell block, equal values: 4, 4, 4 and 4.
- Bottom-right single cell, less than 3: 1.
Domino placements
Rows and columns are numbered from 1. A placement listing gives the two cells occupied by each domino.
- 5–6: row 2, columns 2–3.
- 3–5: row 1, columns 1–2.
- 4–4: row 3, columns 2–3.
- 4–1: row 4, columns 3–4.
- 4–6: row 3, column 4 and row 2, column 4.
Medium: hints and answer for puzzle #1236
Progressive hints
- Start with the top-right two-cell region, which must sum to 3.
- The tray contains doubles 4–4 and 5–5.
- The opening region resolves to 0 and 3.
Region values
- Top-centre two-cell row, equal values: 4 and 4.
- Top-centre single cell, greater than 3: 4.
- Top-right two-cell column, sum 3: 3 and 0.
- Middle-centre two-cell column, equal values: 1 and 1.
- Middle-centre two-cell column, greater than 7: 5 and 6.
- Middle-left two-cell column, sum 4: 2 and 2.
- Middle-centre two-cell column, equal values: 5 and 5.
- Bottom-left single cell, less than 4: 3.
Domino placements
Rows and columns are numbered from 1.
- 0–3: row 2, column 5 and row 1, column 5.
- 1–2: row 3, column 2 and row 3, column 1.
- 1–4: row 2, column 2 and row 1, column 2.
- 2–3: row 4, column 1 and row 5, column 1.
- 4–4: row 1, columns 3–4.
- 5–5: row 4, column 2 and row 5, column 2.
- 5–6: row 2, column 3 and row 3, column 3.
Hard: hints and answer for puzzle #1245
Progressive hints
- Begin with the top-centre single cell, which must sum to 2.
- The tray contains five doubles: 6–6, 5–5, 1–1, 2–2 and 3–3. Place them with care; doubles are especially constrained by all-equal regions.
- The starting single cell resolves to 2.
Region values
- Top-centre single cell, sum 2: 2.
- Two top-centre regions summing to 10: 6 and 4 in one, and 5 and 5 in the other.
- Top-right two-cell all-equal region: 2 and 2.
- Middle-left single cell, sum 0: 0.
- Middle-centre five-cell all-equal region: five 3s.
- Middle-left unconstrained single cell: 2.
- Two middle-centre regions summing to 12: 6 and 6 in each.
- Middle-centre single cell, sum 4: 4.
- Middle-left two-cell region summing to 8: 3 and 5.
- Middle-right single cell, sum 5: 5.
- Bottom-centre two-cell all-equal region: 4 and 4.
- Bottom-centre single cell, sum 2: 2.
- Bottom-centre three-cell all-equal region: three 1s.
Domino placements
Rows and columns are numbered from 1.
- 2–3: row 3, column 1 and row 4, column 1.
- 3–0: row 2, column 2 and row 2, column 1.
- 6–2: row 1, column 3 and row 1, column 2.
- 6–6: row 3, columns 6–7.
- 5–5: row 1, columns 5–6.
- 2–4: row 5, column 4 and row 5, column 3.
- 3–4: row 2, column 4 and row 1, column 4.
- 6–3: row 3, column 3 and row 2, column 3.
- 4–5: row 5, columns 2–1.
- 1–1: row 5, columns 5–6.
- 2–2: row 1, column 7 and row 2, column 7.
- 4–6: row 3, column 5 and row 3, column 4.
- 5–1: row 4, column 7 and row 5, column 7.
- 3–3: row 2, columns 5–6.
How the three boards differ
These are counts for the August 31, 2026 boards, not general statistics about NYT Pips. Board sizes, domino counts and region counts are reported by EnergyPips.
#1 Best Overall
| Difficulty | Board | Dominoes | Regions | Region types |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 4×4 | 5 | 5 | 3 all-equal; 2 comparison |
| Medium | 5×5 | 7 | 8 | 2 exact-sum; 3 all-equal; 3 comparison |
| Hard | 5×7 | 14 | 15 | 10 exact-sum; 4 all-equal; 1 unconstrained cell |
On the easy board, the puzzle editor Sukie notes: “A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there are 3 here.” That observation applies to the easy board’s three all-equal regions; the hard board also includes five doubles in its tray.
Quick Recap
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