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Here are the listed placements for the Saturday, December 13, 2025 New York Times Pips puzzle, identified in an independent archive as Puzzle #118. The solutions are grouped by difficulty; try the hints first if you want to preserve some of the challenge.
How to read the Pips clues
Pips is a domino-placement puzzle. Place each tile vertically or horizontally so the pips in its colored region satisfy that region’s condition. Depending on the clue, the values may need to add to an exact sum, match one another, all differ, or stay above or below a bound. A tile listed for a region is shown by its two pip values and orientation.
The placements below are the solutions listed by Mashable’s guide, syndicated by Yahoo Tech; they are not presented as independently tested placements.
Easy hints and answers
- Sum 0: Place 0–6 vertically.
- Sum 7, red region: Place 0–6 vertically and 1–1 vertically.
- Sum 7, light-blue region: Place 1–1 vertically, 4–3 vertically, and 5–2 horizontally.
- Sum 11, orange region: Place 5–2 horizontally and 6–6 horizontally.
Medium hints and answers
- Sum 1, orange region: Place 1–3 vertically.
- Sum 3: Place 1–3 vertically and 0–4 horizontally.
- Equal 4: Place 0–4 horizontally and 4–3 horizontally.
- Sum 8: Place 4–3 horizontally and 5–1 horizontally.
- Sum 1: Place 5–1 horizontally.
- Sum 2: Place 2–4 vertically and 6–0 vertically.
- Sum 9: Place 6–0 vertically and 2–3 horizontally.
- Sum 2: Place 1–1 vertically.
- Equal 3, purple region: Place 3–3 horizontally.
Hard hints and answers
- Equal 5, orange region: Place 5–5 horizontally and 5–2 vertically.
- Less than 6: Place 1–3 horizontally.
- Sum 6: Place 1–3 horizontally and 3–6 vertically.
- Equal 2, orange region: Place 5–2 vertically and 2–1 vertically.
- Greater than 3: Place 4–1 vertically.
- Equal 1, green region: Place 2–1 vertically, 4–1 vertically, and 1–1 horizontally.
- Equal 4, purple region: Place 4–4 horizontally and 4–6 horizontally.
- Greater than 2: Place 4–6 horizontally.
How the three difficulty boards compare
The independent EnergyPips archive lists these board sizes and clue counts for December 13:
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| Difficulty | Squares | Dominoes | Regions | Hard-board clue mix |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Easy | 8 | 4 | 4 | Not applicable |
| Medium | 14 | 7 | 6 | Not applicable |
| Hard | 20 | 10 | 7 | 3 exact-sum, 3 less-than, and 1 all-different region |
These are archive-listed board figures, not independently measured statistics. Each difficulty has its own board and answer placements, so use the section that matches the level you are playing.
Optional offline practice
A standard double-six domino set can be used to practice the physical placement mechanic away from the game. It is optional; the NYT digital puzzle does not require a physical set. The archive describes its solutions as using tiles from a standard double-six set.
Quick Recap
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