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Today's hints
Open only the board, round or clue you need help with.
Hint 1 — reveal hint
Easy: 5 dominoes and 6 regions, including 3 single-cell regions to fill first, 2 equality regions, the largest sum target is 6.
Hint 2 — reveal hint
Medium: 7 dominoes and 7 regions, including 3 single-cell regions to fill first, the largest sum target is 6.
Hint 3 — reveal hint
Hard: 16 dominoes and 28 regions, including 25 single-cell regions to fill first, 3 equality regions, the largest sum target is 6.
Hint 4 — reveal hint
Count the pips before placing anything: the most common value in the hard set is 3.
The answer
The solution, explanation and solve notes stay hidden until you choose to reveal them.
Reveal answer and explanation
Answer board
Easy board
#1439
Region rules and coordinates
- R1: equals · r3c3, r3c2, r2c2
- R2: equals · r2c1, r3c1
- R3: sum 6 · r1c2, r1c3
- R4: sum 6 · r2c4
- R5: greater 2 · r1c4
- R6: empty · r2c3
sum = target total; equals = same value; unequal = all different values; less = total below target; greater = total above target; empty = no constraint. D labels identify dominoes; R labels identify regions.
Domino placements
Rows and columns below start at 1, from the top left.
- 4–4: row 2, column 1 → row 3, column 1
- 5–6: row 1, column 4 → row 2, column 4
- 0–0: row 3, column 2 → row 3, column 3
- 2–2: row 1, column 3 → row 2, column 3
- 4–0: row 1, column 2 → row 2, column 2
Medium board
#1461
Region rules and coordinates
- R1: unequal · r1c2, r2c2
- R2: sum 6 · r1c3
- R3: sum 1 · r2c3
- R4: greater 4 · r2c4
- R5: less 9 · r3c1, r3c2
- R6: greater 10 · r3c3, r3c4, r4c4, r4c5
- R7: greater 12 · r4c2, r4c3, r5c2
sum = target total; equals = same value; unequal = all different values; less = total below target; greater = total above target; empty = no constraint. D labels identify dominoes; R labels identify regions.
Domino placements
Rows and columns below start at 1, from the top left.
- 4–3: row 4, column 3 → row 3, column 3
- 4–1: row 2, column 2 → row 2, column 3
- 6–2: row 1, column 3 → row 1, column 2
- 5–3: row 2, column 4 → row 3, column 4
- 4–0: row 3, column 1 → row 3, column 2
- 3–3: row 4, column 4 → row 4, column 5
- 5–4: row 5, column 2 → row 4, column 2
Hard board
#1462
Region rules and coordinates
- R1: sum 4 · r1c1
- R2: sum 3 · r1c2
- R3: sum 3 · r1c3
- R4: sum 2 · r1c4
- R5: sum 5 · r1c5
- R6: sum 5 · r2c1
- R7: sum 0 · r2c2
- R8: sum 0 · r2c3
- R9: sum 1 · r2c4
- R10: sum 1 · r2c5
- R11: sum 2 · r3c1
- R12: sum 0 · r3c2
- R13: sum 1 · r3c3
- R14: sum 2 · r3c4
- R15: sum 3 · r3c5
- R16: sum 3 · r3c6
- R17: sum 2 · r4c1
- R18: sum 3 · r4c2
- R19: sum 5 · r4c3
- R20: sum 3 · r4c4
- R21: sum 2 · r4c5
- R22: equals · r4c6, r5c6
- R23: sum 0 · r5c2
- R24: empty · r5c3
- R25: sum 6 · r5c4
- R26: equals · r5c5, r6c5, r6c6
- R27: sum 4 · r6c2
- R28: equals · r6c3, r6c4
sum = target total; equals = same value; unequal = all different values; less = total below target; greater = total above target; empty = no constraint. D labels identify dominoes; R labels identify regions.
Domino placements
Rows and columns below start at 1, from the top left.
- 0–1: row 5, column 3 → row 6, column 3
- 0–2: row 3, column 2 → row 3, column 1
- 0–3: row 2, column 3 → row 1, column 3
- 0–4: row 5, column 2 → row 6, column 2
- 0–5: row 2, column 2 → row 2, column 1
- 1–2: row 2, column 4 → row 3, column 4
- 1–3: row 2, column 5 → row 3, column 5
- 1–4: row 6, column 4 → row 6, column 5
- 1–5: row 3, column 3 → row 4, column 3
- 2–3: row 4, column 1 → row 4, column 2
- 2–4: row 4, column 5 → row 5, column 5
- 2–5: row 1, column 4 → row 1, column 5
- 3–4: row 1, column 2 → row 1, column 1
- 3–5: row 3, column 6 → row 4, column 6
- 4–5: row 6, column 6 → row 5, column 6
- 3–6: row 4, column 4 → row 5, column 4
Why this answer
Wednesday’s set is Easy #1439, Medium #1461 and Hard #1462, by Ian Livengood and Rodolfo Kurchan, edited by Ian Livengood. The hard board uses 16 dominoes across 28 regions, 25 of them single-cell regions.
Read each region’s rule before placing dominoes. A single-cell sum gives an exact value; a less-than or greater-than rule gives a range, and an unmarked region adds no constraint. Use the remaining dominoes and neighboring placements to narrow the possibilities.
Solve notes
Count before you place
Tally the pip values on the hard board’s 16 dominoes before touching the grid: 3 is the most common value. That count tells you which values can stretch across a long equality chain and which sums have only one possible split.
Questions about this edition
What are today’s NYT Pips board numbers?
The November 4, 2026 set is Easy #1439, Medium #1461 and Hard #1462.
Who made today’s Pips boards?
Easy #1439 is by Ian Livengood; Medium #1461 is by Rodolfo Kurchan; Hard #1462 is by Rodolfo Kurchan.
When does the next NYT Pips set release?
The next Pips set is the dated edition for Thursday, November 5, 2026.
How do you play NYT Pips?
Place dominoes so every shaded region satisfies its rule, such as a target sum, equality, inequality or all-different condition.
TECHi provides independent hints and commentary. Play the official game.
Recent Pips answers
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Catching up? Here are the most recent solutions.
| Date | Puzzle | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Tue, Nov 3, 2026 | Pips | Easy #1436 · Medium #1458 · Hard #1459Easy #1436: 1-2 [0,0]-[0,1]; 2-0 [0,2]-[0,3]; 1-1 [1,0]-[2,0]; 3-3 [1,3]-[2,3]; 0-3 [1,1]-[1,2] | Medium #1458: 6-3 [0,0]-[1,0]; 4-1 [0,2]-[1,2]; 3-2 [2,0]-[2,1]; 4-4 [3,3]-[3,4]; 3-0 [1,3]-[2,3]; 4-2 [3,2]-[2,2]; 5-5 [0,1]-[1,1] | Hard #1459: 5-5 [5,2]-[5,3]; 3-3 [4,5]-[5,5]; 3-2 [4,1]-[3,1]; 0-6 [2,0]-[2,1]; 2-0 [3,0]-[4,0]; 0-1 [1,1]-[0,1]; 0-5 [1,2]-[0,2]; 1-5 [0,4]-[0,3]; 2-5 [0,0]-[1,0]; 3-6 [3,4]-[2,4]; 0-4 [1,4]-[1,5]; 1-1 [4,3]-[4,4]; 2-4 [5,0]-[5,1]; 3-4 [3,5]-[2,5] |
| Mon, Nov 2, 2026 | Pips | Easy #1433 · Medium #1455 · Hard #1456Easy #1433: 0-5 [2,4]-[2,5]; 3-4 [2,0]-[2,1]; 1-3 [0,4]-[1,4]; 1-4 [0,1]-[1,1]; 1-0 [2,2]-[2,3] | Medium #1455: 4-3 [2,0]-[1,0]; 5-1 [2,3]-[2,2]; 3-1 [0,2]-[1,2]; 2-5 [2,1]-[1,1]; 5-4 [2,4]-[2,5]; 4-4 [0,5]-[1,5]; 2-3 [1,4]-[1,3] | Hard #1456: 4-3 [1,2]-[1,3]; 3-2 [0,6]-[0,5]; 3-1 [2,3]-[2,4]; 0-5 [4,3]-[3,3]; 2-0 [2,6]-[3,6]; 0-3 [4,4]-[4,5]; 1-1 [1,5]-[2,5]; 1-4 [2,0]-[2,1]; 2-5 [7,3]-[7,4]; 4-4 [2,2]-[3,2]; 4-5 [4,2]-[4,1]; 2-6 [3,4]-[3,5]; 1-6 [1,7]-[1,6]; 1-2 [0,4]-[1,4]; 4-0 [3,1]-[3,0]; 0-0 [5,3]-[6,3] |
| Sun, Nov 1, 2026 | Pips | Easy #1430 · Medium #1452 · Hard #1453Easy #1430: 4-3 [3,0]-[3,1]; 6-5 [4,1]-[4,2]; 5-4 [0,3]-[0,4]; 1-5 [2,1]-[2,2]; 5-5 [1,2]-[1,3] | Medium #1452: 1-3 [1,5]-[0,5]; 4-5 [2,4]-[2,5]; 6-6 [2,2]-[2,3]; 0-3 [1,3]-[1,4]; 3-3 [0,0]-[1,0]; 4-6 [1,1]-[1,2]; 2-6 [2,0]-[2,1] | Hard #1453: 0-1 [1,0]-[0,0]; 0-2 [2,3]-[1,3]; 0-3 [3,3]-[3,4]; 0-4 [3,0]-[2,0]; 0-5 [2,5]-[3,5]; 1-2 [5,5]-[4,5]; 1-3 [5,3]-[5,2]; 1-4 [0,1]-[1,1]; 1-5 [4,3]-[4,2]; 2-3 [4,1]-[5,1]; 2-4 [0,2]-[1,2]; 2-5 [4,4]-[5,4]; 3-4 [0,3]-[0,4]; 3-5 [2,1]-[3,1]; 4-5 [2,4]-[1,4]; 3-6 [2,2]-[3,2] |
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