Wednesday brings a fresh set of NYT Pips puzzles. Today's set offers a smooth progression from straightforward placements to complex conditional logic, with the Hard puzzle presenting a satisfying challenge for experienced solvers. 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
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Begin with the purple equal zone - it requires matching numbers and will help anchor your solution.
Key Insight: The navy zone needs exactly 14 pips total, so plan your high-value dominoes accordingly.
Easy Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 2/2 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone
- 2.Place the 2/5 domino horizontally in the purple (=) and pink (5) zone
- 3.Place the 6/3 domino vertically in the teal (6) zone
- 4.Place the 0/4 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone
- 5.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the navy (14) zone
- 6.Place the 4/4 domino horizontally in the navy (14) and orange (=) zone
Today's Medium Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Look at the purple zone requiring exactly 2 pips - this gives you limited options for placement.
Key Insight: The navy zone requires exactly 0 pips, meaning you need dominoes with zeros placed strategically.
Medium Pips Solution
Scroll past if you want to keep trying
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- 1.Place the 2/6 domino horizontally in the purple (2) zone and pink (=) zone
- 2.Place the 5/0 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and navy (0) zone
- 3.Place the 5/6 domino horizontally in the teal (=) zone and pink (=) zone
- 4.Place the 5/3 domino vertically in the teal (=) zone and green (=) zone
- 5.Place the 6/1 domino horizontally in the pink (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 6.Place the 3/1 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone and orange (=) zone
- 7.Place the 3/3 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone
- 8.Place the 1/0 domino horizontally in the purple (1) zone
Today's Hard Pips
Quick Hints (No Spoilers)
Starting Point: Focus on the purple (5) zone first - it needs exactly 5 pips total, giving you limited domino options.
Key Insight: The navy zones have contradictory requirements (<3 and 0), requiring careful zero placement.
Watch Out For: The teal zones have different requirements (7 and 6), so you can't treat them as identical. Also, the pink zones have both >3 and 8 requirements, creating a challenging constraint.
Hard Pips Solution
Last chance to solve independently
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- 1.Place the 4/0 domino vertically in the purple (5) zone and orange (=) zone
- 2.Place the 1/2 domino horizontally in the purple (5) zone and pink (8) zone
- 3.Place the 6/6 domino horizontally in the pink (8) zone and teal (7) zone
- 4.Place the 0/6 domino vertically in the orange (=) zone and purple (=) zone
- 5.Place the 0/2 domino horizontally in the orange (=) zone and navy (<3) zone
- 6.Place the 6/5 domino vertically in the purple (=) zone and orange (5) zone
- 7.Place the 6/4 domino horizontally in the purple (=) zone and pink (>3) zone
- 8.Place the 0/5 domino horizontally in the navy (0) zone and green (=) zone
- 9.Place the 5/5 domino horizontally in the green (=) zone
- 10.Place the 3/2 domino vertically in the teal (6) zone
- 11.Place the 3/1 domino vertically in the green (6) zone and teal (6) zone
- 12.Place the 1/3 domino vertically in the teal (7) zone and green (6) zone
Puzzle Debrief
Overall Difficulty: Moderate challenge with a well-balanced progression.
Trickiest Puzzle: Hard - The conflicting navy zone requirements (<3 and 0) and multiple teal zones with different conditions created a complex constraint satisfaction problem.
Our Take: Today's puzzles demonstrate excellent design progression. The Easy puzzle teaches basic equal zone mechanics, Medium introduces exact number constraints with zeros, and Hard combines multiple contradictory conditions for a satisfying solve. The Hard puzzle's use of identical colors with different requirements is particularly clever, forcing solvers to pay close attention to each zone's specific condition rather than assuming color uniformity.
Tomorrow's Pips drops at midnight. See you then.
