NYT Pips Hint, Answer & Solution for January 12, 2026

Jan 12, 2026

🚨 SPOILER WARNING

This page contains the final **answer** and the complete **solution** to today's NYT Pips puzzle. If you haven't attempted the puzzle yet and want to try solving it yourself first, now's your chance!

Click here to play today's official NYT Pips game first.

Want hints instead? Scroll down for progressive clues that won't spoil the fun.

🎲 Today's Puzzle Overview

Monday, January 12, 2026 opens the week with a fresh NYT Pips puzzle that feels especially rewarding to solve together.

As a new Monday challenge, it’s a great way to reset your logic gears, ease back into problem-solving, and share ideas with other Pips fans.

Edited by Ian Livengood, today’s puzzle set strikes a warm balance between approachability and clever design. The grids encourage discussion, small breakthroughs, and those satisfying moments when a tricky region finally clicks—perfect material for sharing a Pips Hint or comparing notes on pips hint today.

The Easy puzzle (ID 525), constructed by Ian Livengood, works as a smooth warm-up. Clear equals regions and manageable sum targets help solvers build confidence quickly, making it ideal for early hints, quick explanations, or helping someone new find their footing.

The Medium puzzle (ID 549) by Rodolfo Kurchan deepens the challenge, weaving equals chains with less-than constraints that reward careful tracking and collaborative reasoning. It’s the kind of grid where one shared insight can unlock several placements.

For those who enjoy tackling complexity as a group, the Hard puzzle (ID 569), also by Rodolfo Kurchan, delivers layered sums and broad equals regions. Breaking it down step by step together turns the solution into a genuinely social experience.

Whether you’re trading puzzle hints, checking a full solution, or simply enjoying a thoughtful Monday logic session with friends, the January 12, 2026 NYT Pips puzzle is built around community, challenge, and the joy of solving side by side.

Written by Ander

Puzzle Analyst – Sophia

💡 Progressive Hints

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

💡 Hint #1 - So easy

Just do it

💡 Hint #1 - Track pip scarcity across the set

Begin by counting how often each pip value appears. When certain pips are limited, equal regions immediately narrow to those values, creating early forced constraints that shape the rest of the grid.

💡 Hint #2 - Let equal regions absorb repeated pips

Equal regions naturally collect the most frequent remaining pip. Once other regions eliminate alternatives, assigning these repeated values unlocks multiple placements at once.

💡 Hint #3 - Satisfy low-sum and inequality regions together

Small sum targets and less-than constraints often work as a pair. Fixing the exact sum in one region restricts which high pip can safely spill into a neighboring inequality region.

💡 Hint #4 - Close with the only legal inequality

When most pips are committed, a final less-than region usually accepts just one remaining domino. Use it as a confirmation that all earlier placements are consistent.

💡 Hint #1 - Count scarce pips to lock key regions

Start by counting how many times high-value pips appear across all dominoes. Limited counts of 6s and 5s immediately restrict which regions can absorb them, while low targets reveal where zeros and ones must cluster.

💡 Hint #2 - Resolve fixed-sum regions first

When a region’s total is fully determined by elimination, place it early. Locking the Red 4 region with a forced pair simplifies surrounding regions and pushes excess high pips outward.

💡 Hint #3 - Use equals regions as pivots

Equals regions often act as anchors. Once neighboring sums are constrained, an equals region collapses to a single pip value, allowing multiple placements to chain together in one logical sweep.

💡 Hint #4 - Balance high sums symmetrically

Large target regions like 10 and 12 tend to demand doubles or mirrored values. Confirm these only after smaller regions are settled, ensuring each high pip is used exactly once where it matters most.

💡 Hint #5 - Finish with the only domino left

After all constrained regions are satisfied, the remaining blank often accepts just one possible domino. Use this as a final consistency check to confirm the entire grid is solved cleanly.

🎨 Pips Solver

Jan 12, 2026

Click a domino to place it on the board. You can also click the board, and the correct domino will appear.

✅ Final Answer & Complete Solution For Hard Level

The key to solving today's hard puzzle was identifying the placement for the critical dominoes highlighted in the starting grid. Once those were in place, the rest of the puzzle could be solved logically. See the final grid below to compare your solution.

Starting Position & Key First Steps

Pips hint for January 12, 2026 – hard level puzzle grid with critical first placements and strategy

This image shows the initial puzzle grid for the hard level, with a few critical first placements highlighted.

Final Answer: The Solved Grid for Hard Mode

NYT Pips January 12, 2026 hard puzzle full solution grid showing final answer with hints

Compare this final grid with your own solution to see the correct placement of all dominoes.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Easy Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-4], [5-5], [5-4], [5-2], [1-0].

2

Step 2: Yellow 2 + Light Blue Equal + Red Equal + Purple >5 --(Arrows ①②③)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Light Blue Equal region must be 5. The domino halves in Red Equal region must be 4. The answer is 2-5 (2 into Yellow 2 region), placed horizontally; 5-4, placed horizontally; 4-6 (6 into Purple >5 region), placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Green <3 + Blue 5 --(Arrows ④⑤)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (5-5, 1-0). The domino halves in Blue 5 region must be 0+5. The answer is 1-0 (1 into Green <3 region), placed horizontally; 5-5 (one 5s left into blank), placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-0], [5-3], [5-2], [5-1], [5-0], [2-0], [1-1]. Only 4 domino halves that contain 5 pips, only 3 domino halves that contain 1 pips, need three same number pipses for Red Equal.

2

Step 2: Green 2 + Yellow Equal + Red Equal --(Arrows ①②③④)

Need one domino placed in Green 2 region, so the domino halves in Green 2 region must be 0+2+0 or 1+1+0. Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Green 2 region must be 0+2+0. The domino halves in Yellow Equal region must be 5. The domino halves in Red Equal region must be 1. The answer is 0-2 (whole domino), placed horizontally; 0-5, placed vertically; 5-1, placed vertically; 5-1, placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Purple 2 + Light Blue <6 --(Arrows ⑤⑥)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-0, 5-3, 5-2). The domino halves in Purple 2 region must be 2+0. The answer is 2-5 (5 into Light Blue <6 region), placed horizontally; 0-6 (6 right into blank), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Blue <5 --(Arrows ⑦)

The answer is 5-3 (5 into blank, 3 into Blue <5 region), placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-5], [6-4], [6-3], [6-2], [5-3], [5-2], [5-0], [4-4], [4-3], [3-2], [2-0], [1-1]. Only 4 domino halves that contain 6 pips (6-5, 6-4, 6-3, 6-2) for Red 12 region and Blue 12 region. Only 4 domino halves that contain 5 pips (6-5, 5-3, 5-2, 5-0) for Green 10 region and Yellow 10 region. The domino halves in Purple 2 region must be 0+0+1+1 (only 2 domino halves that contain 0 pips, only one domino with double 1 pips). Therefor, the domino halves in number 4 region must be 2+2.

2

Step 2: Red 4 --(Arrows ①②)

Confirmed by neighboring region and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Red 4 region must be 2+2, the dominoes with 2 pips (6-2, 5-2, 3-2, 2-0). The answer is 2-0 (0 into Purple 2 region), placed horizontally; 2-6 (6 into Blue 12 region), placed vertically.

3

Step 3: Purple 2 + Green 10 + Light Blue Equal --(Arrows ③④⑤⑥⑦⑧)

The domino halves in Purple 2 region must be 0+0+1+1 (one 0s alread come from step 2). The domino halves in Green 10 region must be 5+5. Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes, the domino halves in Light Blue Equal region must be 3. The answer is 1-1, placed horizontally; 0-5, placed vertically; 5-3, placed horizontally; 3-6 (6 into Blue 12 region, the Blue 12 region done), placed horizontally; 3-2 (2 into Purple 4 region), placed vertically; 3-4 (4 right into blank), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Purple 4 + Yellow 10 + Red 12 --(Arrows ⑨⑩⑪)

Confirmed by neighboring region and remaining dominoes (6-5, 6-4, 5-2, 4-4). The domino halves in Purple 4 region must be 2+2 (one 2s already come from step 3). The domino halves in Yellow 10 region must be 5+5. The domino halves in Red 12 region must be 6+6. The answer is 2-5, placed vertically; 5-6, placed vertically; 6-4 (4 down into blank), placed vertically.

5

Step 5: Bottom Blank --(Arrows ⑫)

The answer is 4-4, placed horizontally.

🎥 NYT Pips January 12, 2026 Solution Walkthrough｜Easy 525 → Medium 549 → Hard 569 Full Logic Breakdown

Showing how one correct placement unlocks the next—step by step.

💡 Pro Tips for Similar Puzzles

Start with Constraints

Always begin with the most constrained regions - sum regions with small numbers or tight spaces.

Use Equal Regions

Use "equal" regions as anchors - they eliminate many possibilities quickly.

Work Systematically

Let the rules guide your placement rather than guessing randomly.

Double-Check

Verify each region's rules are satisfied before moving to the next.

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