Pips Answer for Sunday, February 15, 2026

When I first sat down to tackle the February 15th puzzles, I started with the Easy level to get my brain in gear. I noticed right away that cell (0,0) was empty, which is always a great starting point because it limits what the neighbor (1,0) can be since they form a domino together. For the Easy sum of 10 at (1,0) and (2,0), I knew I needed big numbers. Looking at the dominoes, the only way to make that work alongside the other sums was using a 4 and a 6. Once I placed those, the rest of the Easy grid fell into place like a zipper.

Moving on to the Medium, things got a bit more interesting. I saw a 'Sum 12' region at (5,2) and (5,3). In Pips, the only way to get a 12 is with two 6s, but I had to check my available dominoes first. I had [6,2], [6,1], and [6,0], but not a double-6. This meant the 12 had to come from two different dominoes meeting there. I also spotted a 'Sum 0' at (5,1), which is a total gift—it has to be a 0. That let me pin down the [6,0] domino quickly. The 'Greater than 4' and the triple 'Equals' region in the middle column really constrained where the [3,3] and [3,2] pieces could go.

The Hard puzzle by Rodolfo Kurchan was the real brain-buster. I immediately looked for the 'Sum 23' region spanning (0,5) to (2,6). Since there are only 4 cells in that region and the max value is 6, the only possible combination to reach 23 is three 6s and one 5 (6+6+6+5=23). That is a huge hint! I then looked at the bottom row where (5,4), (5,5), and (5,6) all have to be equal. Since (5,3) is empty, I had to be careful with how the dominoes laid across that bottom edge. The 'Less than 2' and 'Greater than 3' markers in column 4 were my next targets to narrow down the [1,2] and [5,4] dominoes. It took some trial and error with the [4,4] and [3,3] doubles, but focusing on the big sums first is what really saved me.