NYT Pips Hint, Answer & Solution for January 26, 2026

Jan 26, 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

On Monday, January 26, 2026, NYT Pips rolls out a beautifully crafted puzzle set that feels like a true logic masterpiece — a perfect way to start the week with a thoughtful mental workout.

Edited by Ian Livengood, today’s experience highlights elegant design, smooth difficulty pacing, and the kind of satisfying structure that rewards careful reasoning.

The easy puzzle by Ian Livengood gently eases you in with graceful constraints and friendly logic patterns, ideal for warming up your brain.

From there, Rodolfo Kurchan’s medium and hard grids layer in complexity with artistic balance, weaving together equals regions, sum targets, and unequal rules that create those unforgettable “aha” moments.

Every region, every sum, and every unequal rule feels deliberately placed by a master designer.

If you’re hunting for a smart Pips Hint or just want to reflect on your pips hint today, this set offers plenty of insight into how elegant constraints guide smart domino placement.

Dive into the puzzle, appreciate the structure, and enjoy discovering the hidden genius behind each solution and hint.

Whether you’re solving solo or sharing ideas with the community, this Monday’s NYT Pips puzzle is a reminder of how beautiful logic can be when design and creativity come together.

Written by Joe

Puzzle Analyst – Mark

💡 Progressive Hints

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

💡 Hint #1 - So easy

Enjoy it

💡 Hint #1 - Anchor high-sum regions with fixed doubles

When a region demands a large exact total like 10 and only one double can supply half of it, lock that double onto the shared boundary. This stabilizes multiple regions at once and clarifies which high pip must pair with it.

💡 Hint #2 - Let equals regions absorb safe leftovers

Equals regions are ideal for values that appear twice and don’t fit big sums. Assigning these early removes clutter from the pool and simplifies the remaining sum and inequality checks.

💡 Hint #3 - Complete forced sums before touching equals

If a sum region has only one viable pairing left, finish it immediately. The resulting placement often forces neighboring equals or inequality regions to accept a specific pip value.

💡 Hint #4 - Use the final equal as a cleanup move

Leave one equals region unresolved until the end, then drop in the last matching double. This avoids conflicts and ensures all remaining dominoes are already consistent with surrounding constraints.

💡 Hint #1 - Scan for unique high-sum combinations

Start by listing which pip pairs can form the largest required totals. With only one 5-pip domino and one 3-pip domino available, any region targeting 9 immediately narrows to a single feasible pairing. Use these rare values to anchor early placements.

💡 Hint #2 - Use inequality regions to place low pips

Regions marked <3 or similar are perfect filters for 0s and 1s. Feed these constraints first to eliminate orientation ambiguity, which in turn locks down nearby sum and equals regions through forced adjacency.

💡 Hint #3 - Chain forced sums across neighboring regions

Once a sum region is partially satisfied, complete it using the only remaining compatible domino halves. Let each resolved sum propagate into neighboring regions, creating a cascade of forced placements.

💡 Hint #4 - Reserve doubles for equals and > regions

Doubles become critical when equals or high-threshold regions remain. Hold back 6-6 and 4-4 until you see which region demands uniformity or maximum pip value, then deploy them where no mixed domino can fit.

💡 Hint #5 - Finish by balancing a mixed-value region

For a Not Equal or multi-cell region, collect the leftover distinct pip values and check which combination completes the set without breaking nearby constraints. The last placement should satisfy both diversity and adjacency rules.

🎨 Pips Solver

Jan 26, 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 26, 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 26, 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: [6-5], [5-5], [5-4], [5-3], [5-2], [5-1].

2

Step 2: Red 30 + Blue >5 + Yellow >4 + Green >3 + Light Blue <2 + Purple <3 --(Arrows ①②③④⑤⑥)

Confirmed by all regions and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Red 30 region must be 5+5+5+5+5+5. The answer is 5-6 (6 into Blue >5 egion), placed horizontally; 5-5 (one 5s into Yellow >4 region), placed horizontally; 5-4 (4 into Green >3 region), placed horizontally; 5-1 (1 into Light Blue <2 region), placed horizontally; 5-2 (2 into Purple <3 region), placed horizontally; 5-3 (3 right into blank), placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Medium Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-2], [6-0], [5-0], [4-4], [2-2], [2-0]. The domino halves in Number 10 region must be 4+6, [4-4] must placed in the boundary between Light Blue 10 region and Green 10 region. Need one domino with the same number placed in Purple Equal region.

2

Step 2: Green 10 + Blue Equal + Yellow <4 --(Arrows ①②③)

Confirmed by all regions and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Green 10 region must be 4+6. The domino halves in Blue Equal must be 2. The answer is 4-4, placed vertically; 6-2, placed horizontally; 2-0 (0 up into Yellow <4 region), placed vertically.

3

Step 3: Light Blue 10 + Red Equal --(Arrows ④⑤)

Confirmed by all left regions and remaining dominoes (6-0, 5-0, 2-2). The domino halves in Light Blue 10 region must be 4+6 (4s already come from Arrows ①). The domino halves in Red Equal region must be 0. The answer is 6-0, placed horizontally; 0-5 (5 left into blank), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Purple Equal --(Arrows ⑥)

The answer is 2-2, placed horizontally.

🔧 Step-by-Step Answer Walkthrough For Hard Level

1

Step 1

Dominoes Include: [6-6], [6-4], [6-1], [5-4], [4-4], [4-1], [3-3], [2-2], [2-1], [1-0]. The domino halves in Number 9 regions must be 4+5 or 6+3. Only one domino withe 5 pips (5-4), only one domino with 3 pips (3-3).

2

Step 2: Light Blue <3 + Purple 9 + Blue 6 --(Arrows ①②③)

Confirmed by all regions and step 1 and relative position. The domino halves in Purple 9 region must be 4+5. The domino halves in Blue 6 region must be 4+2. The answer is 1-4 (1 into Light Blue <3 region), placed horizontally; 5-4, placed horizontally; 2-2 (one 2s into Yellow Not Equal region), placed horizontally.

3

Step 3: Yellow <2 + Red 4 + Green 9 --(Arrows ④⑤⑥)

Confirmed by all left regions and remaining dominoes (6-6, 6-4, 6-1, 4-4, 3-3, 2-1, 1-0). The domino halves in Red 4 region must be 0+4. The domino halves in Green 9 region must be 6+3. The answer is 1-0 (1 into Yellow <2 region), placed horizontally; 4-6, placed horizontally; 3-3 (one 3s into Yellow Not Equal region), placed horizontally.

4

Step 4: Purple >4 + Red Equal + Light Blue 5 --(Arrows ⑦⑧⑨)

Confirmed by all left regions and remaining dominoes (6-6, 6-1, 4-4, 2-1). The domino halves in Red Equal region must be 6. The domino halves in Light Blue 5 region must be 1+4. The answer is 6-6 (one 6s into Purple >4 region), placed horizontally; 6-1, placed horizontally; 4-4 (one 4s into Yellow Not Equal region), placed vertically.

5

Step 5: Yellow Not Equal --(Arrows ⑩)

The domino halves in this region must be 1+2+3+4 (2s, 3s and 4s already come from Arrows ③⑥⑨). The answer is 1-2 (1 into Yellow Not Equal region, 2 up into blank), placed vertically.

🎥 NYT Pips January 26, 2026 – Monday Domino Logic Walkthrough | Pips Hints & Full Solution

If you’re stuck, curious about alternative reasoning paths, this guide is built to help.

💡 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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