Pips Answer for Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Complete NYT Pips puzzle solution with interactive board and expert analysis.
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Waking Up With a Quick Win
Nyt Pips easy answer for 2026-03-17
Answer for 2026-03-17
Starting my morning with the easy grid was just what I needed. I always look for the zeros first because they are like freebies. The target sum of zero at cell 0,0 and cell 0,3 meant those spots had to be blank. Since I had the 0,0 domino in my list, I placed it right at the top left corner, covering 1,0 and 0,0. This was a great start because it immediately helped me figure out the sum of 3 for cells 1,0 and 1,1. Knowing that 1,0 was a zero, cell 1,1 had to be a 3 to satisfy that sum region.
From there, everything started to click into place. I looked at the target sum of 5 for the region covering 1,2 and 2,2. I had to use the remaining pieces like the 4,2 domino and the 1,0 domino. The equals constraint at 3,1 and 3,2 was the final piece of the puzzle. I matched up the values so the pips were identical, and before I knew it, the whole board was filled. It is always satisfying when the easy level flows this smoothly without any backtracking.
Turning Up the Heat on a Tuesday
Nyt Pips medium answer for 2026-03-17
Answer for 2026-03-17
The medium puzzle today was a bit more of a brain teaser, especially with those sum targets of 11. I knew that to get an 11, I almost certainly needed to use a 6 and a 5. I spotted the first sum region at 2,0 and 3,0 and decided to place my 6,5 domino there. This was a solid anchor for the left side of the board. Then I noticed another sum region for 11 at 4,2 and 4,3. Since I only had one 6,5 domino, I had to look at the other pieces. I realized that the dominoes can be flipped, and I had to be careful with how they connected to the empty cell at 2,4.
The trickiest part was balancing the greater than and less than constraints. Cell 0,3 needed to be greater than 3, while cell 1,1 had to be less than 3. I spent a few minutes swapping the 0,3 and 1,1 dominoes around until the unequal constraint for 1,2 and 1,3 also worked out. It felt like a game of musical chairs with the numbers! Once I placed the 2,6 and 3,6 dominoes, the rest of the board finally behaved itself. It was a good reminder to always double-check the unequal regions before committing to a spot.
Conquering the Hard Grid Mountain
Nyt Pips hard answer for 2026-03-17
Answer for 2026-03-17
Wow, the hard puzzle today really made me work for my victory! The standout challenge was the massive sum region at 3,1, 3,2, and 4,1 which needed to total 18. In a game with pips only going up to 6, the only way to hit 18 with three cells is to have a 6 in every single one of them. Finding the 6,6 domino and the 3,6 domino was the breakthrough I needed to satisfy that big area. It felt like a huge weight was lifted once those sixes were locked in.
The middle of the board was quite sparse because of those three empty cells at 5,3, 5,4, and 5,5. They act like little islands that force the dominoes to wrap around them. I had to be very tactical with the equals region spanning five different cells from 2,2 down to 3,4. Making sure all five of those spots had the same value took some trial and error with the 2,2 and 1,1 pieces. My final move was solving the greater than 9 target at the very bottom. After a bit of math, I realized the 5,5 domino was the only thing that could make that work alongside the other constraints. Crossing the finish line on this one felt amazing.
Pro Tips for Today's Puzzle
Always start by looking for the smallest or largest possible sums, like 0 or 12, because they have very few pip combinations.
Also, use the empty cells as boundaries to visualize where dominoes are forced to turn or stay put. Finally, keep an eye on your list of available dominoes so you do not try to use the same piece twice.
What I Learned
Today taught me how powerful the equals constraints can be when they span across multiple rows.
In the hard puzzle, that five-cell equals region acted like a skeleton for the entire grid, forcing almost every other piece to adapt to it. I also realized that large sum targets like 18 are actually helpful because they narrow down your options to only the highest value pips, which simplifies the logic significantly.