Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup features a consistent zone layout across all three difficulty levels, with exact-number zones and comparison conditions that reward methodical placement. 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)
Starting Point: The teal (=) zone is your only guaranteed starting position. With only one matching domino available, place it immediately and use it as a reference for the rest of the board.
Key Insight: The navy (<4) zone sits at the edge of the board adjacent to teal (10). Any domino placed there must have a pip value of 3 or less, which restricts your options significantly.
Watch Out For: The purple (5) and orange (9) zones are tightly coupled. If you place the wrong vertical domino across them early, you can orphan the remaining zones. Verify your pip sums before committing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Start with the most constrained zone: teal (=). Place the 2/2 domino horizontally. This is the only domino with equal pips, so it locks in immediately with no alternative.
- 2.Move to the purple (5) and orange (9) zones. These share a border, so a vertical domino crossing both is optimal. Place the 3/5 vertically: 3 in purple (5), 5 in orange (9). Both conditions are partially satisfied.
- 3.Place the 2/0 vertically across purple (5) and navy (0). The 2 brings purple (5) to 3+2=5, completing it. The 0 satisfies navy (0).
- 4.Place the 4/5 vertically across orange (9) and navy (10). Orange (9) now has 5+4=9, completed. Navy (10) gets a 5.
- 5.Place the 0/1 vertically across navy (0) and green (2). Navy (0) is already complete with its single pip. Green (2) gets a 1.
- 6.Place the 0/0 horizontally in the purple (0) zone. This is straightforward: two zeros sum to zero.
- 7.Place the 5/1 horizontally across navy (10) and green (2). Navy (10) reaches 5+5=10. Green (2) reaches 1+1=2. Both zones complete.
- 8.Place the 2/5 horizontally in the orange (7) zone. The 2 and 5 sum to 7. Orange (7) is satisfied.
- 9.Place the 4/0 vertically across pink (4) and green (<4). The 4 satisfies pink (4). The 0 is less than 4, satisfying green (<4).
- 10.Place the 5/5 horizontally in the pink (10) zone. Two fives sum to 10. Pink (10) is complete.
- 11.Place the 4/4 vertically across purple (4) and teal (10). Purple (4) gets a 4. Teal (10) gets a 4, bringing its running total to 4.
- 12.Place the 1/3 vertically in the teal (4) zone. The 1 and 3 sum to 4. Teal (4) is satisfied.
- 13.Place the 6/3 vertically across teal (10) and navy (<4). Teal (10) gets the 6, reaching 4+6=10. Navy (<4) gets the 3, which is less than 4. All conditions are met.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone
- 2.Place the 3/5 domino vertically in the purple (5) zone and orange (9) zone
- 3.Place the 2/0 domino vertically in the purple (5) zone and navy (0) zone
- 4.Place the 4/5 domino vertically in the orange (9) zone and navy (10) zone
- 5.Place the 0/1 domino vertically in the navy (0) zone and green (2) zone
- 6.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the purple (0) zone
- 7.Place the 5/1 domino horizontally in the navy (10) zone and green (2) zone
- 8.Place the 2/5 domino horizontally in the orange (7) zone
- 9.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the pink (4) zone and green (<4) zone
- 10.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the pink (10) zone
- 11.Place the 4/4 domino vertically in the purple (4) zone and teal (10) zone
- 12.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the teal (4) zone
- 13.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the teal (10) zone and navy (<4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The zone layout is identical across all three difficulty levels, so the real differentiator is the order in which you identify constraints. The teal (=) zone gives away the starting position immediately.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The navy (<4) zone on the edge forces you to reserve a low-value domino (3 or less) for that position late in the solve. If you burn your 0, 1, 2, or 3 dominoes elsewhere, you will find yourself stuck with no valid placement for the final zone.
Our Take: Today's set is a clean example of how Pips rewards systematic thinking. The same board appears at all three levels, making it an excellent tutorial for players who want to see how strategy scales. The cross-zone vertical placements in the purple-orange and teal-navy clusters are the key mechanical insight to internalize for future puzzles.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
