NYT Pips Hints and Answers for Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026: Easy, Medium and Hard Domino Placements

Tuesday’s Pips from The New York Times (NYT), for Oct. 27, 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. Monday’s boards are in our Pips story for Oct. 26.

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.

Tuesday’s Pips hints, Oct. 27, 2026

Easy (five dominoes: 1-0, 5-1, 2-3, 4-3, 2-6)

• Hint 1: R3C1 and R3C5 must each add up to 2, so each holds a 2. The 2-3 and 2-6 dominoes supply them.
• Hint 2: R2C4 and R2C5 are equal. They hold the two 3s, from the 2-3 and 4-3 dominoes.

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

• Hint 1: R2C4 must be less than 1, so it is a blank, the 0 end of the 2-0 domino.
• Hint 2: R4C4 and R5C4 add up to 7. The 1-6 domino fills them.

Hard (thirteen dominoes on a ten-row board)

• Hint 1: R1C3 must add up to 6. The 6-1 domino hangs below it, with its 1 in R2C3.
• Hint 2: R6C4, R6C5 and R7C4 are equal and all hold 4s. They come from the 4-4, 2-4 and 4-0 dominoes.

Solving tips

Look for single cells with a sum target: a cell that must add up to 2, 5 or 6 can only hold that value. An “equal” region shrinks your options fast once one value is known; with four cells, as in Tuesday’s Hard board, you need four matching halves, and a double can supply two of them. On the Hard board, count the blanks: there are three 0 halves among the 13 dominoes.

More of Tuesday’s puzzles: Wordle hints and Connections hints. Track your solve times on our printable weekly calendar or the October 2026 calendar.

Tuesday’s Pips answers, Oct. 27, 2026 (spoilers)

Stop here if you want to solve the boards yourself.

Some dominoes on the Medium and Hard 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: R1C2 is less than 2; R2C2 and R2C3 are equal; R2C4 and R2C5 are equal; R3C1 adds up to 2; R3C3 is more than 2; R3C5 adds up to 2; R1C4 and R2C1 take any value.

• 1-0: R2C2 = 1, R1C2 = 0
• 5-1: R3C3 = 5, R2C3 = 1
• 2-3: R3C5 = 2, R2C5 = 3
• 4-3: R1C4 = 4, R2C4 = 3
• 2-6: R3C1 = 2, R2C1 = 6

Medium, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C2, R2C2 and R2C3 total less than 4; R2C1 and R3C1 total more than 7; R2C4 is less than 1; R3C4 is less than 3; R4C2 adds up to 4; R4C4 and R5C4 add up to 7; R5C3 is more than 2; R3C2, R3C3 and R4C3 take any value.

• 2-0: R3C4 = 2, R2C4 = 0
• 1-6: R4C4 = 1, R5C4 = 6
• 4-4: R3C2 = 4, R4C2 = 4
• 0-3: R1C2 = 0, R2C2 = 3
• 2-3: R4C3 = 2, R5C3 = 3
• 2-6: R2C1 = 2, R3C1 = 6
• 6-0: R3C3 = 6, R2C3 = 0

Hard, by Rodolfo Kurchan. Regions: R1C3 adds up to 6; R3C3 is more than 3; R4C3 to R7C3 add up to 15; R2C1, R2C2, R2C3 and R3C2 are equal; R6C4, R6C5 and R7C4 are equal; R6C6 and R6C7 add up to 7; R6C8, R7C8 and R8C8 are all different; R7C5, R7C6 and R8C6 add up to 4; R8C3 is more than 4; R9C3 is less than 4; R9C6 and R10C6 total less than 2; R10C3 adds up to 5.

• 5-3: R10C3 = 5, R9C3 = 3
• 1-2: R7C8 = 1, R8C8 = 2
• 0-3: R6C8 = 0, R6C7 = 3
• 2-6: R4C3 = 2, R5C3 = 6
• 5-5: R7C3 = 5, R8C3 = 5
• 4-4: R6C5 = 4, R6C6 = 4
• 2-4: R6C3 = 2, R6C4 = 4
• 4-0: R7C4 = 4, R7C5 = 0
• 1-3: R7C6 = 1, R8C6 = 3
• 0-1: R9C6 = 0, R10C6 = 1
• 1-1: R2C1 = 1, R2C2 = 1
• 1-4: R3C2 = 1, R3C3 = 4
• 6-1: R1C3 = 6, R2C3 = 1

The four-cell equal region on the Hard board is all 1s, from the 1-1, 1-4 and 6-1 dominoes. Wednesday’s boards arrive at midnight.