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NYT Pips Answers for January 24, 2026

NYT Pips answers for January 24, 2026, a Saturday: hints first, then the full solution for the easy, medium and hard boards. Take the hints in order and stop when you have enough — nothing below is revealed until you open it.

Today's set runs from a 10-square easy board to a 32-square hard one, a gap of 22 squares, with the hard board carrying 4 doubles against easy's 2 and 5 loose regions against 4. Constructed by Ian Livengood.

Sukie, Puzzle editor at EnergyPips

By Sukie · Puzzle editor

Easy — 10 squares, 5 dominoes

57% of the regions on this board are loose — comparisons or unconstrained — so there is little to calculate from and most of the work is deciding where tiles cannot go.

At 10 squares this is a typical easy board — the average is 9.9 — so nothing about its size explains an unusually long or short solve.

57% of its regions are loose against a norm of 40%, so this board is vaguer than usual — there is less exact arithmetic to anchor on and more reasoning by elimination.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the < 2 region — the top centre single square — where the pips in this region must add up to less than 2. Work there first because only 2 combinations of values can fill it.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 2 doubles: 6-6, 3-3. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there are 2 here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The < 2 region resolves to 1. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — easy board, January 24, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
> 2the top centre single square3
< 2the top centre single square1
=the middle left column of 26, 6
= 7the middle centre row of 24, 3
< 3the middle centre single square2
=the middle centre row of 23, 3
no rulethe bottom right single square3

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 2-3 → row 2 col 4 and row 2 col 3
  • 4-3 → row 2 col 2 and row 1 col 2
  • 6-6 → row 2 col 1 and row 3 col 1
  • 3-1 → row 2 col 5 and row 1 col 5
  • 3-3 → row 2 col 6 and row 3 col 6

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Medium — 14 squares, 7 dominoes

Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 3 sum regions have to carry the whole board.

At 14 squares this is a typical medium board — the average is 14.8 — so nothing about its size explains an unusually long or short solve.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the < 4 region — the middle right single square — where the pips in this region must add up to less than 4. Work there first because it is the most constrained region on the board, with 4 possible fillings.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 2 doubles: 0-0, 4-4. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there are 2 here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The < 4 region resolves to 0. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — medium board, January 24, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
=the top centre 3-square block4, 4, 4
= 6the middle centre row of 21, 5
no rulethe middle left single square0
=the middle centre column of 23, 3
= 6the middle centre row of 26, 0
no rulethe middle centre single square4
< 4the middle right single square0
= 6the bottom centre row of 26, 0

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 5-4 → row 2 col 4 and row 2 col 5
  • 3-0 → row 3 col 2 and row 3 col 1
  • 3-6 → row 4 col 2 and row 4 col 3
  • 4-0 → row 3 col 5 and row 3 col 6
  • 1-6 → row 2 col 3 and row 3 col 3
  • 0-0 → row 3 col 4 and row 4 col 4
  • 4-4 → row 1 col 6 and row 2 col 6

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Hard — 32 squares, 16 dominoes

Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 8 sum regions have to carry the whole board.

At 32 squares this is 23% larger than the average hard board, which runs 26.1. More squares means more placements to keep straight at once, and a mistake made early sits underneath more correct-looking work before you find it.

Its tightest sum target is 0, against a median of 4 across every board published. A target that low forces blanks and low values, and is usually the fastest way in.

Hint 1 — where to start

Start with the = 0 region — the middle centre single square — where the pips in this region must add up to exactly 0. Work there first because exactly one combination of values can fill it, so it is fully forced before you place anything.

Hint 2 — what your tray forces

The tray carries 4 doubles: 0-0, 2-2, 1-1, 3-3. A double is the only tile that fits wholly inside an all-equal region, and there are 2 here.

Hint 3 — the opening region's values

The = 0 region resolves to 0. Which half of which domino supplies each is still yours to work out.

Full answer — hard board, January 24, 2026
How each region resolves.
RegionWhereValues
= 1the top left column of 20, 1
no rulethe top centre single square3
= 2the top centre row of 21, 1
= 6the top centre row of 32, 2, 2
= 10the middle right column of 25, 5
=the middle left column of 40, 0, 0, 0
=the middle centre 4-square block3, 3, 3, 3
no rulethe middle centre single square4
no rulethe middle right single square1
= 0the middle centre single square0
> 21the middle centre row of 46, 5, 5, 6
= 5the bottom left row of 22, 3
= 2the bottom centre row of 21, 1
> 10the bottom centre row of 26, 5
= 0the bottom right single square0

Every tile and the squares it covers

  • 3-5 → row 4 col 5 and row 5 col 5
  • 0-0 → row 4 col 1 and row 5 col 1
  • 0-5 → row 7 col 7 and row 7 col 6
  • 3-4 → row 3 col 3 and row 4 col 3
  • 2-2 → row 1 col 5 and row 1 col 6
  • 0-1 → row 3 col 1 and row 2 col 1
  • 5-6 → row 5 col 6 and row 5 col 7
  • 0-3 → row 1 col 1 and row 1 col 2
  • 1-1 → row 1 col 3 and row 1 col 4
  • 1-5 → row 4 col 7 and row 3 col 7
  • 0-2 → row 6 col 1 and row 7 col 1
  • 1-6 → row 7 col 4 and row 7 col 5
  • 3-3 → row 3 col 4 and row 3 col 5
  • 2-5 → row 1 col 7 and row 2 col 7
  • 0-6 → row 5 col 3 and row 5 col 4
  • 1-3 → row 7 col 3 and row 7 col 2

Rows and columns are counted from the top-left of the board, starting at 1.

Questions about this day

What is the answer to NYT Pips on January 24, 2026?
The full solution for all three boards is on this page, below the hints. Two or more regions carry no rule at all today, which sounds generous and is not: unconstrained squares give you nothing to reason from, so the 8 sum regions have to carry the whole board.
Can I see a hint without seeing the whole answer?
Yes. Each difficulty has three hints in order — where to start, what your tray forces, then the values in the opening region — each behind its own disclosure, with the full solution last. Nothing is revealed until you open it.
Are these the official New York Times boards?
The puzzle data is the Times’ own, and this page reports and explains the solution. EnergyPips is not affiliated with The New York Times, and the boards are not reproduced here to play — to play, go to the Times. To play a free daily domino puzzle of our own, the rest of this site is that.
Why is the hard board harder than the easy one?
On January 24, 2026 the hard board runs 32 squares across 15 regions against the easy board’s 10 and 7, and carries 5 regions that give you no exact number to work from.

About these answers

EnergyPips is an independent site and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to The New York Times. This page reports and explains the solution to a published puzzle, constructed by Ian Livengood — the board itself is not reproduced here to play. To play it, go to the Times. To play a free daily domino puzzle of our own making, with a full archive, start here.

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