NYT Pips Hints & Answers for April 12, 2026

Ian Livengood's easy grid for April 12th opens at the far right of the top row. A single-cell sum=4 constraint at the row's edge names the only domino that can place a 4-pip face there, and its partner carries a 5 into the adjacent top-row cell. The four-cell sum=22 spanning the rest of the top row then closes around the [6|6] double — the only tile that can supply the required bulk — while a 5-pip face from the last available domino completes the total. Below the midpoint, the [2|2] double drops cleanly into the two-cell sum=4 region, and two non-double dominoes with matching 4-pip faces resolve the equals constraint and the lone greater-than check to finish the board.

Ian Livengood's medium puzzle for April 12th is anchored by a three-cell equals region in the lower-center of the board. Only the [5|5] double can cover the horizontal pair of cells in that region with two equal values, forcing the third cell to follow. That single placement cascades immediately into the sum=10 region to the right — two dominoes close it in sequence — and a sum=1 constraint at the corner, the tightest two-cell constraint on today's medium board, names its domino without ambiguity. The two single-cell inequality constraints at opposite ends of the grid are each answered by the one remaining domino that satisfies them once the anchor chain is complete.

Rodolfo Kurchan's hard puzzle for April 12th is defined by three separate sum=0 regions. A single-cell sum=0 names its domino immediately — only one tile can place a 0-pip face at that isolated cell — and the partner face plants a known value in the adjacent cell above it. That value propagates through a three-cell sum=6 at the top-left corner, where the [2|2] double fills the two remaining cells and closes the region in one move. Two double-zero constraints elsewhere on the board are each satisfied by a pair of distinct dominoes contributing a 0-pip face apiece, and a four-cell equals region in the lower-left column — the board's longest equals run — is anchored entirely by the [4|4] double, which pins three of the four cells to 4 while the fourth arrives through the chain above.

Try these hints one at a time. Each hint becomes more specific to help you solve it yourself!