Pips Answer for Monday, February 23, 2026
Complete NYT Pips puzzle solution with interactive board and expert analysis.
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Expert Puzzle Analysis
Deep insights from puzzle experts
Nyt Pips easy answer for 2026-02-23
Answer for 2026-02-23
When I first sat down with the Easy puzzle by Ian Livengood, I immediately looked for the 'empty' region at [0,2], which is a classic starting point.
Since the solution uses dominoes like [0,1] and [0,2], I focused on the sum regions. I noticed that the region at [0,1] and [1,1] needed to sum to 6, and by looking at the available dominoes like [1,1] and [0,2], I could start pieceing together the grid.
Nyt Pips medium answer for 2026-02-23
Answer for 2026-02-23
For the Medium puzzle by Rodolfo Kurchan, the difficulty ramped up with more empty squares.
I used the sum of 7 constraints at [0,2][0,3] and [1,3][2,3] to narrow down which dominoes could bridge those gaps. The 'greater than 2' constraint at [2,2] was a huge hint; it forced a specific orientation for the [3,2][2,2] domino.
Nyt Pips hard answer for 2026-02-23
Answer for 2026-02-23
Finally, the Hard puzzle was a real marathon. With 14 dominoes and several empty cells acting as blockers, I had to be very careful.
I started with the high-sum region (sum of 17) at [3,5],[3,6], and [4,5] because there are fewer combinations of pips that can reach such a high number. Once I locked in the [6,6] and [5,0] type values there, the rest of the bottom-right corner began to fall into place. I spent a lot of time double-checking the sum of 4 regions, as those are surprisingly easy to mess up when you have multiple options like [0,4], [1,3], or [2,2].
What I Learned
This set really highlighted how 'empty' cells are just as important as the numbers themselves. In the Hard puzzle, the empty cells at [3,0] and [5,1] acted as natural barriers that dictated how the dominoes had to curve around the grid.
I also learned that looking for the highest sum regions first (like that 17) is usually a better strategy than starting with the small sums, because the high sums have far fewer mathematical possibilities. Another tricky move was managing the [1,1] and [0,0] dominoes; because they are doubles, they don't change the sum logic when flipped, but their placement is restricted by the grid shape.