Daily hints · NYT Pips
NYT Pips for August 10, 2026
#1,134
easy board
- Start with the gapsThree single cells have to be left bare. Marking those first cuts the board down to the shape the five dominoes actually have to fill.
- The tightest regionOne region is three cells that must add up to 3 in total. That is a very small budget for three faces, so the low numbers in the set are spoken for there.
- The double blankThere is a domino with nothing on either half. It is the only piece that can put two zeros next to each other, which makes it the easiest one to place.
WalkthroughTen faces, seven regions, and three of those regions are single cells that must stay empty, so the answer is half decided before you touch a piece. Work the three-cell region adding to 3 first: with a double blank in the set, the zeros belong there. The cell that must beat 2 wants one of the big faces, and the set only offers a handful. The pair that must match each other is the last thing to fall, and by then there is only one way left to lay the remaining piece.
medium board
- Count the onesFive of the seven dominoes carry a one somewhere. If a region is fighting you, it is usually because you have spent a one where a bigger number needed to go.
- The pair over tenTwo cells together have to beat 10. Only the very top of the set can do that, which pins those two cells to the highest faces you own.
- Three cells, nine pipsThe three-cell region adding to 9 has more than one arrangement on paper. Solve the strict regions around it first and it will be left with only one.
WalkthroughSeven dominoes and eight regions, and the two that decide the board are the pair that must exceed 10 and the pair that must add to 3. The first can only be built from the two sixes and the five, the second only from the blank, the ones and the two. Place those, honour the single cell that must stay empty, and the region adding to 7 and the matching pair have almost no freedom left. The three-cell 9 goes in last.
hard board
- Four cells want nothingFour separate single cells each have to total zero, which means a blank face in every one of them.
- Count your blanksThere are exactly four blank faces in the whole set, and they live on four different dominoes. That is not a coincidence: it tells you which four pieces are anchored before you start.
- The twelveOne pair of cells must add to 12, and the highest face in the game is a six. There is only one way to make that number.
- Where to go nextWith the blanks and the twelve placed, work outward through the regions with the smallest targets. The pairs adding to 4 and 3 have far fewer options than the ones adding to 9 or 10.
WalkthroughTwelve dominoes across sixteen regions, and it looks worse than it is because four of those regions are single cells that must come to zero. The set holds exactly four blanks, one each on four different dominoes, so those four pieces are pinned immediately and each one drags its other half along with it. The pair adding to 12 can only be two sixes. After that, take the small targets before the large ones: a pair adding to 4 has a handful of options, a pair adding to 10 has many. The three cells that only have to beat a number rather than hit it exactly are the loosest things on the board and should be left until last.