NYT Pips Hints and Answers for Monday, Nov. 9, 2026: Easy, Medium and Hard

Monday’s Pips from The New York Times (NYT), Nov. 9, 2026, opens the week with a Medium board that never asks for an exact total. Ian Livengood made Easy; Rodolfo Kurchan made Medium and Hard. Six of Medium’s eight regions use the greater-than or less-than signs described on our Pips page. Every placement below comes from the Times’ data and was checked against each rule.

Where each Pips board starts on Nov. 9

R1C1 is the top-left cell; the first number is the row, the second the column.

Easy. R3C1, R3C2 and R4C2 must total less than 3, and the set holds only 0s, 3s, 4s and 6s, so all three are 0s. Two dominoes have a 0: the 0-0 and the 3-0. R4C2 touches only R3C2, so the 0-0 covers that pair, and the 3-0 puts its 0 in R3C1 and its 3 in R2C1, the only other neighbor R3C1 has.

Medium. R1C1, R1C2, R2C1 and R2C2 form a square of matching values. Four halves of one value are needed, and only 0 has four: the 0-0, the 3-0 and the 0-5. So the square is all 0s, and those three dominoes each send a 0 into it.

Hard. R3C3 must be a 5. Its neighbors are R2C3, which must be 1, and R3C4, which must be under 3. No domino pairs a 5 with a 1, so R3C3 joins R3C4. Of the three dominoes with a 5 (2-5, 5-6 and 5-3), only the 2-5 has a half under 3.

Monday’s three Pips boards side by side

Level	Dominoes	Regions	Sum	Equal	Not equal	Less or more than	No condition
Easy	5	6	3	0	0	2	1
Medium	7	8	0	1	0	6	1
Hard	15	17	10	2	2	3	0

Counts come from the Times’ data for Nov. 9. Medium has no sum at all, and Hard has two not-equal regions.

Monday’s Pips hints, Nov. 9, 2026

Easy (five dominoes: 6-4, 3-4, 3-0, 3-6, 0-0)

• Hint 1

  R1C1 must be more than 4. With no 5 on the board, that means a 6, and two dominoes have one.
• Hint 2

  R2C1 and R2C2 add up to 6. From 0, 3, 4 and 6, that is two 3s or a 6 beside a 0.

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

• Hint 1

  R1C3 must be more than 4. No 6 is on the board, and two halves show a 5.
• Hint 2

  R2C3, R2C4 and R3C4 must total 11 or more. The board has three 3s and two 5s, and nothing higher.

Hard (fifteen dominoes on a six-row board)

• Hint 1

  R1C4, R1C5 and R1C6 must match along the top row. Seven halves show a 1, and the 1-1 double is one source.
• Hint 2

  R3C6 must be a 0. The 2-0, the 0-1 and the 6-0 are the dominoes that carry one.

Easy, region by region. Each rule is listed; tap a region to see one value in it.

• R1C1 is more than 4 (one cell)

  R1C1 holds a 6, on the 6-4 domino.
• R1C2 takes any value (one cell)

  R1C2 holds a 4, on the 6-4 domino.
• R2C1 and R2C2 add up to 6 (two cells)

  R2C1 holds a 3, on the 3-0 domino.
• R2C3 and R3C3 add up to 9 (two cells)

  R2C3 holds a 6, on the 3-6 domino.
• R3C1, R3C2 and R4C2 total less than 3 (three cells)

  R3C1 holds a 0, on the 3-0 domino.
• R3C4 adds up to 4 (one cell)

  The 4 comes from the 3-4 domino; its other half sits at R3C3.

Medium, region by region. Each rule is listed; tap a region to see one value in it.

• R1C1, R1C2, R2C1 and R2C2 are equal (four cells)

  R1C1 holds a 0, on the 0-0 domino.
• R1C3 is more than 4 (one cell)

  R1C3 holds a 5, on the 0-5 domino.
• R2C3, R2C4 and R3C4 total more than 10 (three cells)

  R2C3 holds a 3, on the 3-0 domino.
• R2C5 takes any value (one cell)

  R2C5 holds a 1, on the 1-2 domino.
• R3C1 and R4C1 total more than 4 (two cells)

  R3C1 holds a 2, on the 2-4 domino.
• R3C2 is less than 3 (one cell)

  R3C2 holds a 1, on the 1-3 domino.
• R3C3 is more than 2 (one cell)

  R3C3 holds a 3, on the 1-3 domino.
• R3C5 is more than 1 (one cell)

  R3C5 holds a 2, on the 1-2 domino.

Hard, region by region. Each rule is listed; tap a region to see one value in it.

• R1C1 adds up to 4 (one cell)

  The 4 comes from the 4-4 domino; its other half sits at R1C2.
• R1C2 and R1C3 add up to 7 (two cells)

  R1C2 holds a 4, on the 4-4 domino.
• R1C4, R1C5 and R1C6 are equal (three cells)

  R1C4 holds a 1, on the 1-3 domino.
• R2C1, R2C2 and R3C1 are all different (three cells)

  R2C1 holds a 0, on the 2-0 domino.
• R2C3 adds up to 1 (one cell)

  The 1 comes from the 6-1 domino; its other half sits at R2C2.
• R2C4 adds up to 5 (one cell)

  The 5 comes from the 5-6 domino; its other half sits at R2C5.
• R2C5 and R2C6 are equal (two cells)

  R2C5 holds a 6, on the 5-6 domino.
• R3C3 adds up to 5 (one cell)

  The 5 comes from the 2-5 domino; its other half sits at R3C4.
• R3C4 is less than 3 (one cell)

  R3C4 holds a 2, on the 2-5 domino.
• R3C5 and R4C5 are all different (two cells)

  R3C5 holds a 1, on the 1-4 domino.
• R3C6 adds up to 0 (one cell)

  The 0 comes from the 6-0 domino; its other half sits at R2C6.
• R4C1, R5C1, R5C2 and R6C2 total less than 11 (four cells)

  R4C1 holds a 2, on the 2-2 domino.
• R4C6, R5C6 and R6C6 add up to 2 (three cells)

  R4C6 holds a 0, on the 0-1 domino.
• R5C3 adds up to 3 (one cell)

  The 3 comes from the 3-3 domino; its other half sits at R5C2.
• R6C1 adds up to 5 (one cell)

  The 5 comes from the 5-3 domino; its other half sits at R6C2.
• R6C3 and R6C4 total more than 8 (two cells)

  R6C3 holds a 3, on the 3-6 domino.
• R6C5 adds up to 2 (one cell)

  The 2 comes from the 1-2 domino; its other half sits at R6C6.

Reading the boards before you check

On Medium, every rule is a limit, so work from the tightest: R3C2 must be under 3 and R1C3 over 4. Hard has eight single-cell sums; R1C1, R2C3, R2C4, R3C3, R3C6, R5C3, R6C1 and R6C5 are fixed before you begin. Easy’s only blank cell is R1C2.

Monday’s other puzzles: Wordle hints, Connections hints and Strands hints. The printable weekly calendar and the November 2026 calendar work for logging the week’s solves.

Monday’s Pips answers, Nov. 9, 2026 (spoilers)

The placements follow. A line reads as domino first, then the cell for each half.

Easy, by Ian Livengood. Regions: R4C2, R3C2 and R3C1 total less than 3; R2C3 and R3C3 add up to 9; R3C4 adds up to 4; R2C1 and R2C2 add up to 6; R1C1 is more than 4; R1C2 takes any value.

• 6-4: R1C1 = 6, R1C2 = 4
• 3-4: R3C3 = 3, R3C4 = 4
• 3-0: R2C1 = 3, R3C1 = 0
• 3-6: R2C2 = 3, R2C3 = 6
• 0-0: R3C2 = 0, R4C2 = 0

Medium, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C1, R1C2, R2C1 and R2C2 are equal; R1C3 is more than 4; R2C3, R2C4 and R3C4 total more than 10; R3C1 and R4C1 total more than 4; R3C2 is less than 3; R3C3 is more than 2; R3C5 is more than 1; R2C5 takes any value.

• 1-3: R3C2 = 1, R3C3 = 3
• 3-0: R2C3 = 3, R2C2 = 0
• 5-3: R3C4 = 5, R2C4 = 3
• 0-0: R1C1 = 0, R2C1 = 0
• 0-5: R1C2 = 0, R1C3 = 5
• 2-4: R3C1 = 2, R4C1 = 4
• 1-2: R2C5 = 1, R3C5 = 2

Hard, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R2C1, R2C2 and R3C1 are all different; R1C2 and R1C3 add up to 7; R1C4, R1C5 and R1C6 are equal; R2C3 adds up to 1; R2C4 adds up to 5; R2C5 and R2C6 are equal; R3C3 adds up to 5; R3C4 is less than 3; R3C5 and R4C5 are all different; R3C6 adds up to 0; R4C1, R5C1, R5C2 and R6C2 total less than 11; R4C6, R5C6 and R6C6 add up to 2; R5C3 adds up to 3; R6C1 adds up to 5; R6C3 and R6C4 total more than 8; R6C5 adds up to 2; R1C1 adds up to 4.

• 4-4: R1C1 = 4, R1C2 = 4
• 3-3: R5C2 = 3, R5C3 = 3
• 6-1: R2C2 = 6, R2C3 = 1
• 1-2: R6C6 = 1, R6C5 = 2
• 2-0: R3C1 = 2, R2C1 = 0
• 0-1: R4C6 = 0, R5C6 = 1
• 1-1: R1C5 = 1, R1C6 = 1
• 1-4: R3C5 = 1, R4C5 = 4
• 2-5: R3C4 = 2, R3C3 = 5
• 5-6: R2C4 = 5, R2C5 = 6
• 3-6: R6C3 = 3, R6C4 = 6
• 5-3: R6C1 = 5, R6C2 = 3
• 2-2: R4C1 = 2, R5C1 = 2
• 1-3: R1C4 = 1, R1C3 = 3
• 6-0: R2C6 = 6, R3C6 = 0

Easy has no domino that flips. On Medium, the 5-3 and 2-4 can be turned around, and on Hard the 2-0, 0-1, 1-4 and 3-6 can, without breaking a rule. Tuesday’s boards appear at midnight.