On a quiet Sunday in mid-August, a columnist at Forbes turned his attention to the New York Times Pips puzzle, a small daily ritual of dominoes and conditions that asks its players to find order in a crowded grid. He offered answers to the day's three puzzles and a patient walkthrough of the hardest of them, admitting that his own path was more trial than certainty. It is a modest moment, but it reflects the older human pleasure of arranging scattered pieces until every rule finally agrees.
NYT Pips Hints, Answers and Hard-Tier Walkthrough for Sunday, August 16
A mountain of dominoes, and every one has to be used
Mark
Why does a puzzle walkthrough get this much space?
Mimi
Because people get stuck, and this one is organized around that. Answers for all three tiers, then a full walkthrough only for the Hard one.
Mark
What made today's Hard puzzle tricky?
Mimi
It was shaped like a K and a lowercase k, and it had a lot of less-than and greater-than conditions. The writer says that meant plenty of trial and error.
Luke
Worth noting that's his own account of the difficulty. Another solver might find it easier.
Mark
Is the walkthrough the only way to solve it?
Mimi
He says he isn't sure it's the best starting point, just that it's easy to follow.
Luke
And the article says some Pips puzzles have more than one solution, so matching his answer exactly isn't necessarily the test. It doesn't say whether this one has several.
Mark
What's the basic logic of the game?
Mimi
Every domino must be used, and every colored region's condition must hold: equal, not equal, above a number, below a number, or an exact value.
Luke
The Easy and Medium solutions are images in the original, so I can't confirm those from the text. Only the Hard steps are written out.
Mark
So what do readers do with it?
Mimi
Compare their grid, then come back tomorrow for the next set.
Il Polso
- The Sunday Hard puzzle, shaped like a giant upper-case K with a small k beside it, tangled readers in a web of less-than and greater-than constraints.
- Solving it demanded repeated guesswork, with dominoes shifted and rotated until the conditions of each colored region could be satisfied at once.
- Forbes stepped in with a full walkthrough, moving pieces in ordered steps from the 5/1 and 4/4 at the top to the final 4/1 placed into the large K.
- The grid now lands in a settled state, with every domino used and every condition met, while readers compare their own grids against the published solution.
On a quiet Sunday in mid-August, a columnist at Forbes turned his attention to the New York Times Pips puzzle, a small daily ritual of dominoes and conditions that asks its players to find order in a crowded grid. He offered answers to the day's three puzzles and a patient walkthrough of the hardest of them, admitting that his own path was more trial than certainty. It is a modest moment, but it reflects the older human pleasure of arranging scattered pieces until every rule finally agrees.
On Sunday, August 16, Forbes published its daily guide to the New York Times Pips puzzles, offering answers for all three puzzles along with a step-by-step walkthrough of the Hard tier. The columnist began with a familiar wish for a lazy Sunday, then set to work on what he called a mountain of dominoes.
Pips asks players to fill a grid of colored regions with a set of dominoes so that every condition is satisfied. Equals signs demand matching pips, crossed-out equals signs demand differing ones, and greater-than, less-than and exact-number clues restrict individual tiles. Dominoes must be rotated to fit, and some puzzles admit more than one solution.
This Sunday's Hard grid was shaped like an upper-case K and a lower-case k, and its many inequality constraints meant that solving it relied largely on trial and error. The author admits he is not sure his starting point is the best one, only that it is easy to follow. His walkthrough moves through the placements in order, building the large K first and then filling the smaller k.
Readers can check their own grids against the guide, which also links to the previous day's edition. A new set of puzzles arrives with the next daily release.
On Sunday, August 16, Forbes published its daily guide to the New York Times Pips puzzles, a package that pairs full answers for the day's three puzzles with a step-by-step walkthrough of the Hard tier. The columnist behind it opens by admitting that the lazy Sunday he wants is, as usual, only a wish, and then gets to work on what he calls a mountain of dominoes.
For readers new to the game, the guide explains the rules. Pips presents a grid of colored regions, and each region carries a condition. Players are given a set number of dominoes and must use every one, filling the grid so that every condition is met. The game comes in Easy, Medium and Difficult tiers. Dominoes are rotated by clicking them, which matters because they have to be turned to fit where they belong.
The conditions are spelled out one by one. An equals sign means all pips in that group must match. A crossed-out equals sign means they must all differ. A greater-than or less-than sign means the pip in that tile must be above or below the listed number. An exact number means the pip must equal it, and tiles with no condition can hold anything. The guide's example, a difficult-tier grid, shows three purple squares that must not equal one another, two pink squares that must total zero, and a zig-zag of blue squares that must all match. Some puzzles have only one solution, others two or more.
The Easy and Medium solutions appear in the article as images, followed by the Hard walkthrough. This Sunday's Hard puzzle is shaped like an upper-case K and a lower-case k, which the author notes is yet another puzzle built around upper and lower case. He says it had so many less-than and greater-than combinations that solving it came down largely to trial and error, and he is not certain his starting point is the best one, only that it is easy to follow.
In Step 1, the 5/1 domino goes from Purple 9 into Dark Blue 2, and the 4/4 from Purple 9 into Green less-than 5. The 1/1 moves from Dark Blue 2 to Blue 9, and the 3/3 goes from Green 3 down into Orange 9. The 6/2 then goes from Orange 9 up into Blue 9.
Step 2 places the 6/6 from Blue 9 into Orange 5. With only the 5/5 left among the doubles, it goes into the Pink equals region. Moving to the small k, the 2/0 goes from Blue less-than 3 into Purple less-than 2, and the 1/2 from Dark Blue 1 goes into Pink greater-than 1.
The final placements finish the grid. The 0/4 goes from Purple less-than 2 into Dark Blue greater-than 3, and the 0/5 from Orange less-than 4 drops into Pink greater-than 4. The 3/4 slides from Blue 3 into the one remaining free tile, and the 4/1 goes from Purple 5 back into the big K. The author signs off with a wish for a splendid Sunday to his readers, whom he calls Pipsqueaks.
Readers can check their own grids against the walkthrough, and the guide links to the previous day's Saturday edition. A fresh trio of puzzles arrives with the next daily release.
Citazioni salienti
The Hard puzzle had so many less-than and greater-than combinations that it was largely trial and error, and he isn't certain it's the best starting point.— Forbes puzzle columnist
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