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NYT Pips Answers for October 30, 2025

NYT Pips answers for October 30, 2025, a Thursday: hints first, then the full solution for the easy, medium and hard boards. Take the hints in order and stop when you have enough — nothing below is revealed until you open it.

Today's set runs from a 10-square easy board to a 20-square hard one, a gap of 10 squares, with the hard board carrying 3 doubles against easy's 1 and 4 loose regions against 3. Constructed by Ian Livengood.

Sukie, Puzzle editor at EnergyPips

By Sukie · Puzzle editor

Easy — 10 squares, 5 dominoes

Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 1 sum region have to carry the whole board.

At 10 squares this is a typical easy board — the average is 9.9 — so nothing about its size explains an unusually long or short solve.

50% of its regions are loose against a norm of 40%, so this board is vaguer than usual — there is less exact arithmetic to anchor on and more reasoning by elimination.

Its tightest sum target is 0, against a median of 5 across every board published. A target that low forces blanks and low values, and is usually the fastest way in.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the = 0 region — the bottom centre row of 2 — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 0. Work there first because exactly one combination of values can fill it, so it is fully forced before you place anything.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 1 double: 4-4. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there are 2 here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The = 0 region resolves to 0, 0. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — easy board, October 30, 2025
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
=the top centre 3-square block4, 4, 4
no rulethe middle right single square1
no rulethe middle left single square1
=the middle centre row of 23, 3
no rulethe middle centre single square2
= 0the bottom centre row of 20, 0

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 4-1 → row 2 col 4 and row 2 col 5
  • 3-0 → row 3 col 3 and row 4 col 3
  • 4-4 → row 1 col 3 and row 2 col 3
  • 1-3 → row 3 col 1 and row 3 col 2
  • 0-2 → row 4 col 4 and row 3 col 4

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Medium — 14 squares, 7 dominoes

Almost every region here is an exact sum, which makes this an unusually arithmetic board: there is very little elimination to do and a great deal of adding up.

At 14 squares this is a typical medium board — the average is 14.8 — so nothing about its size explains an unusually long or short solve.

0% of its regions are loose against a norm of 42%, so this board is tighter than usual — more regions hand you a number outright, which is why it may have felt unusually tractable.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the = 11 region — the middle centre column of 2 — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 11. Work there first because exactly one combination of values can fill it, so it is fully forced before you place anything.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 2 doubles: 2-2, 1-1. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there is one here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The = 11 region resolves to 5, 6. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — medium board, October 30, 2025
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
= 6the top left column of 32, 2, 2
=the top centre 5-square block1, 1, 1, 1, 1
= 6the middle right column of 24, 2
= 11the middle centre column of 26, 5
= 8the bottom centre row of 23, 5

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 6-1 → row 4 col 3 and row 3 col 3
  • 1-4 → row 3 col 4 and row 3 col 5
  • 2-2 → row 1 col 1 and row 2 col 1
  • 1-1 → row 1 col 2 and row 2 col 2
  • 3-5 → row 5 col 4 and row 5 col 3
  • 2-5 → row 4 col 5 and row 5 col 5
  • 2-1 → row 3 col 1 and row 3 col 2

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Hard — 20 squares, 10 dominoes

Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 5 sum regions have to carry the whole board.

At 20 squares this is 23% smaller than the average hard board, which runs 26.1. A smaller grid is more forgiving: a bad tile is fewer undos away from being fixed.

40% of its regions are loose against a norm of 29%, so this board is vaguer than usual — there is less exact arithmetic to anchor on and more reasoning by elimination.

Its tightest sum target is 0, against a median of 4 across every board published. A target that low forces blanks and low values, and is usually the fastest way in.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the = 0 region — the middle centre single square — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 0. Work there first because exactly one combination of values can fill it, so it is fully forced before you place anything.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 3 doubles: 6-6, 5-5, 1-1. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there is one here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The = 0 region resolves to 0. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — hard board, October 30, 2025
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
> 1the top left single square3
< 5the top centre single square1
=the top centre row of 35, 5, 5
= 17the middle left 3-square block5, 6, 6
= 25the middle centre 6-square block6, 6, 2, 2, 4, 5
= 0the middle centre single square0
no rulethe middle left single square6
= 2the bottom centre single square2
= 1the bottom centre row of 20, 1
no rulethe bottom right single square1

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 6-1 → row 2 col 3 and row 1 col 3
  • 5-6 → row 1 col 4 and row 2 col 4
  • 2-0 → row 3 col 4 and row 3 col 5
  • 6-6 → row 3 col 1 and row 4 col 1
  • 5-5 → row 1 col 5 and row 1 col 6
  • 1-1 → row 5 col 5 and row 5 col 6
  • 0-5 → row 5 col 4 and row 4 col 4
  • 5-3 → row 2 col 1 and row 1 col 1
  • 6-2 → row 3 col 2 and row 3 col 3
  • 2-4 → row 5 col 3 and row 4 col 3

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Questions about this day

What is the answer to NYT Pips on October 30, 2025?
The full solution for all three boards is on this page, below the hints. Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 5 sum regions have to carry the whole board.
Can I see a hint without seeing the whole answer?
Yes. Each difficulty has three hints in order — where to start, what your tray forces, then the values in the opening region — each behind its own disclosure, with the full solution last. Nothing is revealed until you open it.
Are these the official New York Times boards?
The puzzle data is the Times’ own, and this page reports and explains the solution. EnergyPips is not affiliated with The New York Times, and the boards are not reproduced here to play — to play, go to the Times. To play a free daily domino puzzle of our own, the rest of this site is that.
Why is the hard board harder than the easy one?
On October 30, 2025 the hard board runs 20 squares across 10 regions against the easy board’s 10 and 6, and carries 4 regions that give you no exact number to work from.

About these answers

EnergyPips is an independent site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The New York Times. This page reports and explains the solution to a published puzzle, constructed by Ian Livengood — the board itself is not reproduced here to play. To play it, go to the Times. To play a free daily domino puzzle of our own making, with a full archive, start here.

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