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Today's Pips Answers and Hints: October 20

NYT Pips answers for today, October 20: all 3 difficulties, with hints that open one region at a time before the full placement.

Published · hints by The Word Finder, built from our own word data

Spoiler warning: hints come first. The answers are further down, behind a reveal you have to tap.

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Pips gives you three puzzles a day. Each board is split into regions, and every region sets one rule about the dominoes you drop into it. Hints first below, then the finished board behind a reveal for each difficulty.

Easy

Your dominoes: 3411410331

Hints

  1. Hint 1Reveal

    5 dominoes, 5 regions to satisfy, and 21 pips in total to place.

  2. Hint 2Reveal

    The rules in play: 2 × “adds up to less than 2”, 1 × “adds up to exactly 7”, 2 × “every cell shows the same number”.

  3. Hint 3Reveal

    Start with the region of 2 cells that adds up to exactly 7 — it has the fewest ways to fill.

  4. Hint 4Reveal

    1 of the dominoes are doubles, so they fit any “same number” region.

Reveal the easy Pips answer

Medium

Your dominoes: 26204303001335

Hints

  1. Hint 1Reveal

    7 dominoes, 7 regions to satisfy, and 32 pips in total to place.

  2. Hint 2Reveal

    The rules in play: 5 × “adds up to exactly 5”, 1 × “every cell shows the same number”, 1 × “adds up to more than 4”.

  3. Hint 3Reveal

    Start with the region of 1 cell that adds up to exactly 6 — it has the fewest ways to fill.

  4. Hint 4Reveal

    1 of the dominoes are doubles, so they fit any “same number” region.

Reveal the medium Pips answer

Hard

Your dominoes: 534162046503213425554533231110

Hints

  1. Hint 1Reveal

    15 dominoes, 18 regions to satisfy, and 89 pips in total to place.

  2. Hint 2Reveal

    The rules in play: 10 × “adds up to exactly 3”, 5 × “adds up to more than 8”, 2 × “every cell shows the same number”, 1 × “adds up to less than 2”.

  3. Hint 3Reveal

    Start with the region of 1 cell that adds up to exactly 3 — it has the fewest ways to fill.

  4. Hint 4Reveal

    3 of the dominoes are doubles, so they fit any “same number” region.

Reveal the hard Pips answer

The NYT's Pips for October 20, 2026, edited by Ian Livengood.

Missed one? Yesterday's Pips answers (October 15, 2026) →

Coming up

Pages for the next seven days. Each fills in with hints and the answer when that day's puzzle comes out.

Past Pips answers

Pips answers for October 20, 2026

Today's other puzzles

Pips is a New York Times game. We're not affiliated with the Times; the hints are our own, and answers sit behind a reveal so you take as much or as little help as you want.