NYT Pips hints, answers for August 21, 2026

Welcome to your guide for Pips, the latest game from the New York Times, released in August 2025. This game offers a unique, single-player experience that could easily become your next go-to gaming habit. If you ever get stuck, the game now provides piecemeal answers to help you through each difficulty level.

To play Pips, similar to traditional dominoes, you place tiles vertically or horizontally, with the main difference being color-coded conditions that the touching tiles must meet. These conditions are specific to the color-coded spaces and include numbers, equal, not equal, less than, greater than, among others. If there's no color coding, there are no specific conditions for the tiles within that space.

For easier levels, here are some examples:

- "Less Than (1): Everything in this space must be less than 1. The answer is 4-0, placed vertically."

- "Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 6-3, placed vertically."

- "Greater Than (1): Everything in this space must be greater than 1. The answer is 2-5, placed horizontally."

- "Equal (5): Everything in this space must be equal to 5. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally; 2-5, placed horizontally; 5-3, placed horizontally."

As for medium difficulty, you'll encounter conditions like:

- "Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 4-6, placed vertically."

- "Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed horizontally; 4-3, placed horizontally."

- "Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally."

For hard difficulty levels, you might face conditions such as:

- "Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally."

- "Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 1-5, placed horizontally."

- "Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally."