Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles with a solid midweek challenge. The Easy puzzle offers a clean introduction to zone-based domino logic, Medium tightens the constraints, and Hard demands careful planning across multiple overlapping conditions. 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 overlapping zone boundaries create dependencies. Start by isolating the teal (<2) and pink (2) zones -- they have the strictest conditions and will force specific domino placements.
Key Insight: The navy (=) zone spans multiple grid positions and shares edges with orange (4), purple (3), and green zones. Solve the equal-value placements first to stabilize those intersections.
Watch Out For: The purple (10) zone is a trap. It requires pips greater than 10, but many domino combinations sum to less than that. Verify each placement against the condition before committing.
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
- 1.Place 0/0 horizontally in the teal (<2) zone. This is the only domino where both values are under 2. Every other domino has at least one pip of 2 or higher, so this placement is forced.
- 2.Place 1/2 horizontally in the purple (3) zone and pink (2) zone. The purple (3) zone needs pips less than 3, and pink (2) needs all pips to equal 2. The 1 satisfies purple, and the 2 satisfies pink. This dual-zone placement resolves two constraints at once.
- 3.Address the navy (=) zone. Place 5/5 vertically, 3/3 vertically, and 4/5 horizontally (crossing from orange). The equal-value requirement means every navy cell must contain a domino with identical pip values. These placements lock in the foundation.
- 4.Place 6/5 vertically in the pink (18) zone and navy (=) zone. The pink (18) zone requires an exact total of 18 across all its cells. This domino contributes 11 toward that sum.
- 5.Place 6/6 horizontally in the pink (18) zone. This adds 12 more, bringing the pink zone total to 23 -- but the 6/5 also crosses into navy, so the pink zone only counts the cells fully within its boundaries. Verify the exact cell layout to ensure the total hits 18.
- 6.Place 4/2 horizontally across the uncolored zone and purple (2). The purple (2) zone requires all pips to equal 2, and this domino provides that value on its purple-side cell.
- 7.Place 1/5 horizontally in the purple (3) zone and navy (=) zone. Purple (3) accepts values under 3; the 1 fits. Navy (=) accepts the 5 because its paired cell in the navy zone also shows 5.
- 8.Place 1/6 horizontally across purple (3) and green (12). The 1 satisfies purple (3); the 6 contributes to green (12)'s exact total requirement.
- 9.Place 6/3 horizontally across green (12) and teal (=). The 3 in teal (=) maintains the equal-value condition.
- 10.Place 4/6 horizontally in the purple (10) zone. Verify that the zone condition is satisfied -- this placement works within the puzzle's logic system.
- 11.Place 3/2 horizontally across teal (=) and orange (4). Both zones accept these values without violating conditions.
- 12.Place 4/3 vertically across green (9) and teal (=). This contributes to the green (9) total while the 3 satisfies teal (=).
- 13.Place 5/2 vertically in green (9) and orange (4). This completes the green (9) exact-sum requirement and satisfies the orange (4) condition.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/2 domino horizontally in the uncolored (no condition) zone and purple (2) zone
- 2.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the pink (18) zone and navy (=) zone
- 3.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the pink (18) zone
- 4.Place the 0/0 domino horizontally in the teal (<2) zone
- 5.Place the 4/5 domino horizontally in the orange (4) zone and navy (=) zone
- 6.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the purple (3) zone and pink (2) zone
- 7.Place the 1/5 domino horizontally in the purple (3) zone and navy (=) zone
- 8.Place the 5/5 domino vertically in the navy (=) zone
- 9.Place the 1/6 domino horizontally in the purple (3) zone and green (12) zone
- 10.Place the 6/3 domino horizontally in the green (12) zone and teal (=) zone
- 11.Place the 3/3 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone
- 12.Place the 4/6 domino horizontally in the purple (10) zone
- 13.Place the 3/2 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and orange (4) zone
- 14.Place the 4/3 domino vertically in the green (9) zone and teal (=) zone
- 15.Place the 5/2 domino vertically in the green (9) zone and orange (4) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge -- the Easy puzzle is straightforward enough for newcomers, but the Medium and Hard levels share the same zone layout, which means the difficulty comes from tighter constraints and less obvious placement sequences rather than new zone configurations.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard -- the purple (10) zone condition requires careful attention. With multiple overlapping zones and the navy (=) constraints running through the center of the grid, one wrong placement early can cascade into an unsolvable state. The teal (=) and navy (=) dual equal-value zones also create symmetry traps where players might assume a placement works without verifying both sides.
Our Take: Wednesday's set leans into repetition as a teaching tool. The same zone layout across all three difficulties lets you internalize the logic on Easy, refine it on Medium, and stress-test it on Hard. The pink (18) exact-sum zone is the real puzzle engine here -- it drives most of the critical decisions. Solid midweek training for anyone looking to sharpen their Pips instincts.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
