NYT Pips Hints and Answers for Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026: Easy, Medium and Hard Domino Placements

Sunday’s Pips from The New York Times (NYT), for Nov. 1, 2026, has an Easy board by Ian Livengood and Medium and Hard boards by Rodolfo Kurchan; two hints for each come first, and every domino placement is at the end. The solutions come from the puzzle data the Times publishes for the game and were checked against every region’s rule. The boards go live at midnight in your time zone. U.S. daylight saving time ends that morning.

How Pips works

You place every domino so that each colored region meets its condition. A number means the pips in the region add up to it; = means every half shows the same value; ≠ means all are different; > and < set a total above or below a number; a region with no condition takes anything. Rows are counted from the top and columns from the left, so R2C5 is the second row, fifth column.

Sunday’s Pips hints, Nov. 1, 2026

Easy (five dominoes: 4-3, 6-5, 5-4, 1-5, 5-5)

• Hint 1

  R1C5 and R4C1 must each add up to 4, so each holds a 4. The 5-4 and 4-3 dominoes supply them.
• Hint 2

  R5C3 must be more than 4, so it holds a 5 or a 6. The 6-5 domino fills R5C2 and R5C3.

Medium (seven dominoes: 1-3, 4-5, 6-6, 0-3, 3-3, 4-6, 2-6)

• Hint 1

  R2C4 must add up to 0, so it is a blank. The 0-3 domino is the only one with a 0.
• Hint 2

  R2C3, R3C2, R3C3 and R3C4 are equal and all hold 6s. They come from the 6-6, 4-6 and 2-6 dominoes.

Hard (sixteen dominoes on a six-row board)

• Hint 1

  R2C1, R3C4, R3C6, R4C1 and R4C4 must each add up to 0. The five 0 ends belong to the 0-1, 0-2, 0-3, 0-4 and 0-5 dominoes.
• Hint 2

  R2C2 and R2C3 add up to 8 and both hold 4s. They come from the 1-4 and 2-4 dominoes.

Solving tips

Look for single cells with a sum target: a cell that must add up to 0, 3 or 5 can only hold that value. An “equal” region shrinks your options fast once one value is known; with four cells, as in Sunday’s Medium board, you need four matching halves, and a double can supply two of them. On the Hard board, count the blanks: there are five 0 halves among the 16 dominoes, and five single cells that need a 0.

More of Sunday’s puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints and Spelling Bee hints. Track your solve times on our printable weekly calendar or the November 2026 calendar.

Sunday’s Pips answers, Nov. 1, 2026 (spoilers)

Stop here if you want to solve the boards yourself.

Some dominoes on the Easy and Medium boards can be flipped without breaking a rule. The values below are one arrangement that fits the placements in the puzzle data and every region’s condition.

Easy, by Ian Livengood. Regions: R1C4 and R2C4 add up to 10; R2C3 and R3C3 add up to 10; R3C2, R4C2 and R5C2 add up to 10; R1C5 adds up to 4; R4C1 adds up to 4; R5C3 is more than 4.

• 4-3: R4C1 = 4, R4C2 = 3
• 6-5: R5C2 = 6, R5C3 = 5
• 5-4: R1C4 = 5, R1C5 = 4
• 1-5: R3C2 = 1, R3C3 = 5
• 5-5: R2C3 = 5, R2C4 = 5

Medium, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C6 and R2C6 total less than 6; R2C2 is more than 2; R2C3, R3C2, R3C3 and R3C4 are equal; R2C4 adds up to 0; R2C5, R3C5 and R3C6 are all different; R1C1, R2C1 and R3C1 take any value.

• 1-3: R2C6 = 1, R1C6 = 3
• 4-5: R3C5 = 4, R3C6 = 5
• 6-6: R3C3 = 6, R3C4 = 6
• 0-3: R2C4 = 0, R2C5 = 3
• 3-3: R1C1 = 3, R2C1 = 3
• 4-6: R2C2 = 4, R2C3 = 6
• 2-6: R3C1 = 2, R3C2 = 6

Hard, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C3 adds up to 2; R1C4 adds up to 3; R1C5 adds up to 4; R2C1 adds up to 0; R2C2 and R2C3 add up to 8; R2C4 adds up to 2; R2C5 adds up to 5; R3C1 adds up to 4; R3C2 adds up to 3; R3C3 adds up to 3; R3C4 adds up to 0; R3C5 adds up to 4; R3C6 adds up to 0; R4C1 adds up to 0; R4C2 adds up to 5; R4C4 adds up to 0; R4C5 adds up to 3; R4C6 adds up to 5; R5C2 adds up to 2; R5C3 adds up to 5; R5C5 adds up to 2; R5C6 adds up to 2; R6C2 adds up to 3; R6C3 adds up to 3; R6C4 adds up to 1; R6C5 adds up to 5; R1C1, R1C2, R4C3, R5C4 and R6C6 take any value.

• 0-1: R2C1 = 0, R1C1 = 1
• 0-2: R3C4 = 0, R2C4 = 2
• 0-3: R4C4 = 0, R4C5 = 3
• 0-4: R4C1 = 0, R3C1 = 4
• 0-5: R3C6 = 0, R4C6 = 5
• 1-2: R6C6 = 1, R5C6 = 2
• 1-3: R6C4 = 1, R6C3 = 3
• 1-4: R1C2 = 1, R2C2 = 4
• 1-5: R5C4 = 1, R5C3 = 5
• 2-3: R5C2 = 2, R6C2 = 3
• 2-4: R1C3 = 2, R2C3 = 4
• 2-5: R5C5 = 2, R6C5 = 5
• 3-4: R1C4 = 3, R1C5 = 4
• 3-5: R3C2 = 3, R4C2 = 5
• 4-5: R3C5 = 4, R2C5 = 5
• 3-6: R3C3 = 3, R4C3 = 6

The Hard board uses every pair of different values from 0 to 5, fifteen dominoes in all, plus the 3-6. Monday’s boards arrive at midnight.