Entertainment
NYT Pips hints, answers for July 18, 2026
Welcome to your guide to Pips, the latest game in the New York Times catalogue.
Released in August 2025, Pips puts a unique spin on dominoes, creating a fun single-player experience that could become your next daily gaming habit.
Currently, if you’re stuck, the game only offers to reveal the entire puzzle, forcing you to move on to the next difficulty level and start over. However, we have you covered! Below are piecemeal answers that will serve as hints so that you can find your way through each difficulty level.
How to play Pips
If you’ve ever played dominoes, you’ll have a passing familiarity with how Pips is played. As we’ve shared in our previous hints stories for Pips, the tiles, like dominoes, are placed vertically or horizontally and connect with each other. The main difference between a traditional game of dominoes and Pips is the color-coded conditions you have to address. The touching tiles don’t necessarily have to match.
The conditions you have to meet are specific to the color-coded spaces. For example, if it provides a single number, every side of a tile in that space must add up to the number provided. It is possible — and common — for only half a tile to be within a color-coded space.
Here are common examples you’ll run into across the difficulty levels:
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Number: All the pips in this space must add up to the number.
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Equal: Every domino half in this space must be the same number of pips.
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Not Equal: Every domino half in this space must have a completely different number of pips.
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Less than: Every domino half in this space must add up to less than the number.
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Greater than: Every domino half in this space must add up to more than the number.
If an area does not have any color coding, it means there are no conditions on the portions of dominoes within those spaces.
Easy difficulty hints, answers for July 18 Pips
Equal (2): Everything in this space must be equal to 2. The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (2): Everything in this space must be greater than 2. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Equal (4): Everything in this space must be equal to 4. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 4-6, placed horizontally.
Greater Than (4): Everything in this space must be greater than 4. The answer is 4-6, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 3-2, placed horizontally.
Medium difficulty hints, answers for July 18 Pips
Not Equal: Everything in this space must be different. The answer is 2-1, placed vertically.
Less Than (4): Everything in this space must be less than 4. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 5-5, placed vertically.
Number (10): Everything in this space must add up to 10. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically; 2-2, placed horizontally.
Equal (6): Everything in this space must be equal to 6. The answer is 6-6, placed horizontally.
Number (7): Everything in this space must add up to 7. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 3-3, placed vertically.
Less Than (6): Everything in this space must be less than 6. The answer is 6-4, placed vertically.
Hard difficulty hints, answers for July 18 Pips
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally.
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Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 1-2, placed horizontally.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 3-5, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 5-1, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 1-4, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 4-3, placed horizontally.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 2-3, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically.
Number (3): Everything in this space must add up to 3. The answer is 1-3, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 5-2, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 5-0, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 3-0, placed vertically.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically.
Number (1): Everything in this space must add up to 1. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically.
Number (5): Everything in this space must add up to 5. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 2-4, placed vertically.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 1-0, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 5-4, placed vertically.
Greater Than (3): Everything in this space must be greater than 3. The answer is 3-6, placed vertically.
Number (4): Everything in this space must add up to 4. The answer is 4-0, placed horizontally.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 4-0, placed horizontally.
Number (2): Everything in this space must add up to 2. The answer is 2-0, placed horizontally.
Number (0): Everything in this space must add up to 0. The answer is 2-0, placed horizontally.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for July 18, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
Flashy.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
GAUDY
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
Assertive.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
PUSHY
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
Human.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
WIGHT
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Cruel.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
HARSH
Final Hurdle hint
Gorge.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
GULLY
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
The DJI Mini 5 Pro has hit its best-ever price at Amazon — buy for under $1,000 this weekend
TL;DR: As of July 18, the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo on sale for $989 at Amazon. That’s the first time we’ve seen this beginner-friendly bundle drop below $1,000.
$989
at Amazon
$1,599
Save $610
We’re keeping a close eye on DJI drone deals. That’s largely because these drones are firm favorites of content creators, but it’s also because there are restrictions on DJI products in the U.S.
The new rules only restrict future imports. That means buyers can still purchase and use drones that are already in stock with retailers like Amazon. There will come a time when stock starts to disappear. At this point we expect prices to climb. That time has not come yet, because you can still find record-low prices on top models, including the DJI Mini 5 Pro.
As of July 18, the DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo on sale for $989 at Amazon. We’ve never seen this beginner-friendly bundle drop below $1,000, so if you’re interested in buying, this is the time to strike.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro is an ultra-light, palm-sized foldable drone. It delivers 42GB of internal storage, a 1-inch CMOS sensor that records 4K/60fps HDR video, and a 225° flexible gimbal that lets you take vertical shots and video from multiple angles.
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The nightscape omnidirectional obstacle sensor with forward-facing LiDAR helps detect obstacles. It also has an upgraded ActiveTrack 360° which keeps the subjects of your shot in frame. It’s all you need to start flying and shooting content right out of the box.
Get this DJI drone deal from Amazon this weekend.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on July 18
After days of almost complete darkness, the Moon is finally illuminated enough to spot some features on its surface once again. What can you see when you look up tonight?
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Saturday, July 18, NASA’s Daily Moon Guide tracker tells us the Moon phase is in Waxing Crescent phase, with 19% of its surface visible.
Without any visual aids, tonight you can spot the Mares Crisium and Fecunditatis. With binoculars or a telescope, you’ll also add the Endymion Crater to your view.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon will take place on July 29.
What are Moon phases?
The Moon completes one full cycle around Earth in about 29.5 days, moving through eight different phases along the way, NASA explains. Although the same side of the Moon always faces our planet, the amount of sunlight reflecting off its surface changes as it travels around Earth. This changing angle of illumination is what makes the Moon appear to transform throughout the month, from a thin crescent to a half-lit Moon and eventually a fully illuminated Full Moon, before starting the cycle again.
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
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