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NYT Pips Answers for May 22, 2026

NYT Pips answers for May 22, 2026, a Friday: 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 12-square easy board to a 32-square hard one, a gap of 20 squares, with the hard board carrying 4 doubles against easy's 1 and 8 loose regions against 5. Constructed by Ian Livengood.

Sukie, Puzzle editor at EnergyPips

By Sukie · Puzzle editor

Easy — 12 squares, 6 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 12 squares this is 21% larger than the average easy board, which runs 9.9. More squares means more placements to keep straight at once, and a mistake made early sits underneath more correct-looking work before you find it.

63% 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.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the > 5 region — the middle left single square — where the pips in this region must add up to more than 5. 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: 3-3. 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 > 5 region resolves to 6. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — easy board, May 22, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
= 6the top left 3-square block3, 0, 3
=the top centre row of 25, 5
no rulethe middle right single square2
> 5the middle left single square6
> 5the middle right single square6
no rulethe bottom left single square4
no rulethe bottom centre single square3
=the bottom centre row of 22, 2

Every tile and the squares it covers

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

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

Medium — 16 squares, 8 dominoes

A 16-square board across 9 regions, with 4 exact sums to anchor it and 3 looser regions to work around.

At 16 squares this is a typical medium board — the average is 14.8 — so nothing about its size explains an unusually long or short solve.

33% 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 = 3 region — the middle centre single square — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 3. 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: 0-0. 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 = 3 region resolves to 3. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — medium board, May 22, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
=the top centre 3-square block6, 6, 6
< 1the top centre row of 20, 0
= 3the top centre column of 21, 2
= 7the middle centre column of 22, 5
= 3the middle centre single square3
=the middle centre column of 25, 5
no rulethe bottom left single square4
< 1the bottom centre row of 20, 0
= 3the bottom right single square3

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 3-5 → row 3 col 8 and row 3 col 7
  • 5-4 → row 3 col 2 and row 3 col 1
  • 3-6 → row 2 col 5 and row 2 col 4
  • 0-1 → row 1 col 5 and row 1 col 6
  • 0-0 → row 3 col 4 and row 3 col 5
  • 2-6 → row 2 col 2 and row 2 col 3
  • 2-5 → row 2 col 6 and row 2 col 7
  • 0-6 → row 1 col 4 and row 1 col 3

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

Hard — 32 squares, 16 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 13 sum regions have to carry the whole board.

At 32 squares this is 23% larger than the average hard board, which runs 26.1. More squares means more placements to keep straight at once, and a mistake made early sits underneath more correct-looking work before you find it.

38% 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 = 3 region — the middle centre single square — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 3. 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 4 doubles: 2-2, 1-1, 0-0, 6-6. Neither all-equal nor all-different regions appear today, so the doubles are unusually free — place them last.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The = 3 region resolves to 3. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — hard board, May 22, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
= 8the top centre row of 26, 2
< 3the top centre single square2
> 10the middle left column of 26, 5
= 9the middle centre column of 26, 3
= 0the middle centre 3-square block0, 0, 0
= 6the middle centre row of 22, 4
= 7the middle left row of 26, 1
= 3the middle centre single square3
no rulethe middle centre single square1
= 3the middle right single square3
< 3the middle centre single square2
= 1the middle centre single square1
> 4the middle centre single square5
= 10the middle right column of 24, 6
= 2the middle centre column of 30, 1, 1
= 3the middle centre single square3
< 5the middle centre single square4
= 1the middle centre single square1
no rulethe middle right single square0
> 3the bottom centre single square4
= 10the bottom centre row of 25, 5

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 1-6 → row 5 col 2 and row 5 col 1
  • 3-0 → row 3 col 3 and row 3 col 4
  • 1-5 → row 6 col 4 and row 6 col 5
  • 6-3 → row 7 col 9 and row 7 col 8
  • 0-2 → row 7 col 2 and row 6 col 2
  • 1-3 → row 5 col 8 and row 5 col 7
  • 2-2 → row 1 col 4 and row 1 col 5
  • 6-5 → row 2 col 1 and row 3 col 1
  • 1-4 → row 8 col 5 and row 8 col 4
  • 5-0 → row 9 col 9 and row 8 col 9
  • 2-4 → row 2 col 7 and row 2 col 8
  • 1-1 → row 8 col 2 and row 9 col 2
  • 3-4 → row 5 col 9 and row 6 col 9
  • 0-0 → row 2 col 5 and row 3 col 5
  • 6-6 → row 1 col 3 and row 2 col 3
  • 4-5 → row 9 col 7 and row 9 col 8

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 May 22, 2026?
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 13 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 May 22, 2026 the hard board runs 32 squares across 21 regions against the easy board’s 12 and 8, and carries 8 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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