Stuck on today’s NYT Pips puzzle? The New York Times’ domino-style game challenges players across three difficulty levels. Whether you’re tackling Easy, Medium, or Hard mode, we’ve got the hints and answers you need to complete January 21, 2026’s puzzles.
What is NYT Pips?
Pips is the New York Times’ latest puzzle game, launched in August 2025. It puts a unique twist on traditional dominoes with color-coded conditions that create an engaging single-player experience. The game features three difficulty levels, each with increasingly complex challenges.
How to Play Pips
The game uses domino tiles placed horizontally or vertically. Unlike traditional dominoes, Pips uses color-coded spaces with specific conditions:
- Number: All pips must add up to the specified number
- Equal: Every domino half must have the same number of pips
- Not Equal: Every domino half must be different
- Less Than: Pips must be less than the number shown
- Greater Than: Pips must be greater than the number shown
Easy Mode Answers (January 21)
- Number (4): 4-4, horizontal
- Number (4): 5-4, horizontal
- Greater Than (7): 5-4, horizontal; 2-3, horizontal
- Equal (2): 2-3, horizontal; 2-1, vertical
- Less Than (2): 2-1, vertical
- Number (0): 0-0, vertical
Medium Mode Answers (January 21)
- Number (4): 5-0, vertical; 4-3, horizontal
- Number (6): 0-6, horizontal; 0-1, vertical
- Number (4): 0-1, vertical; 4-3, horizontal
- Number (10): 2-4, horizontal; 6-5, vertical
- Equal (2): 2-4, horizontal; 2-2, vertical; 2-3, horizontal
- Greater Than (3): 6-5, vertical; 2-3, horizontal
Hard Mode Answers (January 21)
- Number (4): 4-2, horizontal
- Equal (2): 4-2, horizontal; 2-1, vertical
- Number (5): 2-1, vertical; 0-4, horizontal
- Equal (0): 0-0, vertical; 0-4, horizontal
- Number (3): 3-0, vertical
- Greater Than (4): 3-5, vertical
- Less Than (2): 0-1, vertical
- Number (4): 3-5, vertical; 0-1, vertical
- Number (0): 5-0, vertical
- Equal (5): 5-0, vertical; 6-5, vertical
- Greater Than (4): 6-5, vertical
- Greater Than (0): 1-4, vertical
- Equal (4): 1-4, vertical; 4-6, horizontal
- Greater Than (4): 4-6, horizontal
Use these hints to work through today’s puzzles without revealing the entire solution at once. Good luck with your Pips game!