Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's board leans on the "greater than" and "less than" conditions, so watch your pip counts before you drop anything.
We've got hints, step-by-step walkthroughs, and full solutions for Easy, Medium, and Hard difficulty levels.
How to Play Pips
Pips is a domino placement puzzle where you fill a grid of color-coded zones. Each zone has a condition you must satisfy using the pip values on your dominoes.
The twist: you must use every domino and meet every condition to win.
Zone Conditions:
- = All pips in this zone must equal the same number
- Not Equal All pips must be different numbers
- > Pips must be greater than the listed number
- < Pips must be less than the listed number
- Exact Number Pips must total that exact value
- No Color Free space, any domino value works
Click or tap dominoes to rotate them. Each puzzle has one or more valid solutions.
Today's Easy Pips
Today's Medium Pips
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Key Insight: The navy (12) and purple (12) zones are the real traps here. Both demand exact totals, so track every pip you commit to them.
The "greater than" zones are forgiving; the exact-number zones are not.
Watch Out For: The 2/5 domino is the easy misstep. It has to cross the green (<3) zone and the pink (>3) zone, so the 2 must face green and the 5 must face pink.
Flip it the wrong way and both zones fail at once.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Drop the 1/1 horizontally into a purple (=) zone to set the region's base value.
- 2.Place the 1/3 vertically so the 3 lands in the navy (3) zone, satisfying its exact-number check immediately, while the 1 stays in a purple (=) zone.
- 3.Lay the 1/5 horizontally across a purple (=) zone and the pink (=) zone, seeding the pink matching value at 5.
- 4.Place the 4/5 horizontally across the green (>3) zone and the pink (=) zone. Both ends clear their thresholds, and the 5 keeps the pink value locked.
- 5.Set the 5/0 vertically across the teal (>4) zone and a purple (=) zone. The 5 passes the teal check, and the 0 holds the purple value.
- 6.Start the navy (12) total with the 0/6 placed vertically, dropping the 6 into navy (12) and the 0 into a purple (=) zone.
- 7.Bridge from navy (12) into the orange (=) zone with the 6/4 placed vertically. The navy total is now at 12, so this zone is complete.
- 8.Lock the orange (=) zone with the 4/4 placed horizontally.
- 9.Run the 2/4 vertically from the teal (=) zone into the orange (=) zone, matching the orange value at 4.
- 10.Seal the teal (=) zone with the 2/2 placed vertically.
- 11.Join the teal (=) and orange (=) zones with the 2/1 placed horizontally.
- 12.Bridge the orange (=) zone to the purple (12) zone with the 1/6 placed vertically, feeding the 6 into the purple total.
- 13.Finish the navy (>3) zone with the 6/5 placed vertically from the purple (12) zone, completing the purple total at 12.
- 14.Place the 4/3 vertically across the orange (>3) zone and the pink (3) zone, satisfying the pink exact-number check with the 3.
- 15.Place the 2/5 vertically with the 2 facing the green (<3) zone and the 5 facing the pink (>3) zone. This is the last piece, and both ends pass their checks.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 1/1 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone
- 2.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and navy (3) zone
- 3.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 4.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the green (>3) zone and pink (=) zone
- 5.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the teal (>4) zone and purple (=) zone
- 6.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and navy (12) zone
- 7.Place the 6/4 domino vertically in the navy (12) zone and orange (=) zone
- 8.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone
- 9.Place the 2/4 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 10.Place the 2/2 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
- 11.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 12.Place the 1/6 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and purple (12) zone
- 13.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the purple (12) zone and navy (>3) zone
- 14.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the orange (>3) zone and pink (3) zone
- 15.Place the 2/5 domino vertically in the green (<3) zone and pink (>3) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The same board structure runs through all three difficulties, so it's less about new layouts and more about tightening your logic under time pressure.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The navy (12) and purple (12) exact-total zones demand precise sequencing. Feed them too early with the wrong pieces and you paint yourself into a corner with no way to hit 12.
Our Take: Today's set is a clean exercise in "greater than" and "less than" discipline. The "=" zones give you stable anchors, but the exact-number totals are where the real thinking happens.
Master the art of feeding high pips to the threshold zones and low pips to the matching zones, and the board practically solves itself. Solid midweek workout.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
