NYT Pips Hints & Answers for August 3, 2026

Aug 3, 2026

Answers below — spoilers ahead

This page has progressive hints plus full Easy / Medium / Hard solutions for August 3, 2026. Prefer to try first? Play the official board, then come back.

Open today's official NYT Pips · Jump to hints · Jump to full answers

🎲 Puzzle overview for August 3, 2026

On August 3, 2026, Pips Hints mirrored the official NYT boards: Easy is a 4×4 layout (10 active cells, 5 dominoes); Medium is a 5×6 layout (14 active cells, 7 dominoes); Hard is a 7×5 layout (30 active cells, 15 dominoes). The hardest board today features 16 colored regions and 2 edge constraints (2 equals (=)). Start with singleton sum cells and equals chains before placing the larger doubles.

Use progressive hints first if you only want a nudge. Full solved boards and step-by-step strips are shown below for Easy, Medium, and Hard.

💡 Progressive Hints

Hints are tailored to today's board shape when local solution JSON is available. Switch difficulty tabs to match Easy / Medium / Hard.

💡 Read the 4×4 frame
Today's easy board has 10 live cells tiled by 5 dominoes (1 doubles: 4-4). Sketch corridors before you place anything.
💡 Lock singleton sum cells
There are single-cell sum targets of 2, 3, 3. Those pips are forced—place the matching half-domino immediately and let the other half spill into the neighboring region.
💡 Respect the edge symbols
You have 2 constraints (2 equals (=)). Mark every = chain first, then apply >/< as orientation locks, and use ≠ to ban mirrored doubles.
💡 Read the 5×6 frame
Today's medium board has 14 live cells tiled by 7 dominoes (1 doubles: 5-5). Sketch corridors before you place anything.
💡 Open with the tightest sum
A 2-cell region must total exactly 5. Average ~2.5 pips per cell—that filters illegal doubles before you touch the rest of the board.
💡 Respect the edge symbols
You have 1 constraints (1 equals (=)). Mark every = chain first, then apply >/< as orientation locks, and use ≠ to ban mirrored doubles.
💡 Read the 7×5 frame
Today's hard board has 30 live cells tiled by 15 dominoes (4 doubles: 1-1, 3-3, 4-4, 6-6). Sketch corridors before you place anything.
💡 Lock singleton sum cells
There are single-cell sum targets of 0, 0, 1, 1, 5. Those pips are forced—place the matching half-domino immediately and let the other half spill into the neighboring region.
💡 Respect the edge symbols
You have 2 constraints (2 equals (=)). Mark every = chain first, then apply >/< as orientation locks, and use ≠ to ban mirrored doubles.

✅ Final Answer & Complete Solution For Hard Level

Solved hard on August 3, 2026: 15 dominoes on a 7×5 board (30 cells), 16 regions (15 with numeric targets, 1 free). Constraints: 2 equals (=). Use the screenshots to verify each colored region total. Board stats: 7×5, 30 cells, 15 dominoes, 2 edge constraints.

Complete Solution

Pips answer for August 3, 2026 – hard level complete solution

Final board for August 3, 2026 Hard. Board stats: 7×5, 30 cells, 15 dominoes, 2 edge constraints.

Step-by-step solution

Each frame places one domino. The latest move is highlighted in orange.

Step-by-step Pips solution for August 3, 2026 Hard

📚 Learn More About Pips

New to Pips or want to improve your skills? Check out these helpful guides: