Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's lineup hits all three difficulty levels with a 17-zone grid dominated by equal-condition zones, exact-number requirements, and a single greater-than constraint that demands attention. The equal-condition zones across purple, orange, and navy create an interconnected logic puzzle where one wrong domino breaks the chain. 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 five purple equal-condition zones are the backbone of this puzzle. Map them out visually before placing a single domino -- they connect to pink, teal, and orange zones, creating a dependency network you must navigate in order.
Key Insight: Every domino that straddles two zones must satisfy both conditions simultaneously. The 4/2 domino crossing purple (=) and pink (2) is a critical early placement -- it locks the equal-condition value to 4 and the pink zone sum to 2.
Watch Out For: The orange (>4) zone combined with the teal (0) zone creates a false constraint. Many solvers try to place a high-value domino here too early, but the 0/5 solution only becomes clear once you've exhausted other high-pip dominoes on the green zones.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Begin with the green (12) zone. The 6/6 double-six is the only valid domino -- place it horizontally. This removes the highest-value domino from play, which cascades into the green (13) zone's requirements.
- 2.Solve green (13) with two dominoes: 5/5 vertically and 2/3 vertically. The 2/3 domino spans into purple (2), satisfying both the green sum requirement and the purple exact-number condition in one placement.
- 3.Place 4/2 horizontally across purple (=) and pink (2). This is the keystone placement. The 4 sets the equal value for that purple zone, and the 2 nails the pink zone's exact sum of 2.
- 4.Place 3/5 horizontally across purple (=) and pink (5). The 5 locks in the pink (5) exact requirement while the 3 propagates the equal-condition constraint into the adjacent purple zone.
- 5.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and orange (=) zone.
- 6.Chain the teal (11) zone with 4/5 horizontally, 6/2 horizontally. The 4/5 domino also feeds a purple (=) zone, and 6/2 ties back to another purple (=) zone, two equal-condition zones solved simultaneously.
- 7.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (1) zone.
- 8.Address the three navy (0) placements: 3/0 horizontally, 2/0 vertically, 1/3 vertically, 1/4 vertically and 4/0 vertically. These all feed into orange (=) zones, creating a network of equal-value constraints that must all resolve to 0.
- 9.Place 0/5 vertically across teal (0) and orange (>4). The 0 satisfies teal's exact-zero requirement, and 5 exceeds the orange zone's threshold. This is the last critical placement before cleanup.
- 10.Finish with 3/3 horizontally in navy (=). This domino's matched values satisfy the equal-condition zone and use the final remaining domino.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone
- 2.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the green (13) zone
- 3.Place the 2/3 domino vertically in the purple (2) zone and green (13) zone
- 4.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (2) zone
- 5.Place the 3/5 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (5) zone
- 6.Place the 3/4 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 7.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and teal (11) zone
- 8.Place the 6/2 domino horizontally in the teal (11) zone and purple (=) zone
- 9.Place the 2/1 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (1) zone
- 10.Place the 3/0 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and navy (0) zone
- 11.Place the 2/0 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone and navy (0) zone
- 12.Place 1/3 domino vertically in the teal (3) zone and orange (=) zone
- 13.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and navy (0) zone
- 14.Place the 1/4 domino vertically in the navy (1) zone and orange (=) zone
- 15.Place the 0/5 domino vertically in the teal (0) zone and orange (>4) zone
- 16.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the navy (=) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge. The equal-condition zones create a satisfying logic chain that rewards systematic thinking, but the exact-number green zones offer straightforward entry points that keep frustration low.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The five purple equal-condition zones interlocking with pink, teal, orange, and navy zones creates a dense dependency web. Misplace one domino early and the entire grid unravels, forcing a restart.
Our Take: Wednesday's Pips lineup is a well-balanced set that teaches an important lesson: always solve equal-condition zones first. They act as anchor points that constrain everything else. The green zones are generous opening moves, but the purple chain is where today's puzzle earns its keep.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
