NYT Connections hints today: Clues, answers for August 12, 2026

Welcome to your guide for Pips, the latest game from the New York Times. Released in August 2025, Pips offers a unique spin on dominoes, providing a single-player experience that can become a daily gaming habit. When stuck, you can use piecemeal answers as hints to progress through each difficulty level.

To play Pips, place tiles vertically or horizontally, connecting them like traditional dominoes. Unlike dominoes, Pips requires you to meet color-coded conditions. These conditions are specific to color-coded spaces, which may contain only half a tile.

For easy difficulty, here are some common examples:

- Number 5: Tiles must add up to 5. Answers are 6-2 (horizontal) and 3-3 (vertical).

- Number 11: Tiles must add up to 11. Answers are 6-2 (horizontal) and 5-4 (vertical).

- Less Than 2: Tiles must be less than 2. Answer is 3-0 (vertical).

- Number 6: Tiles must add up to 6. Answers are 5-4 (vertical) and 2-2 (horizontal).

- Number 5: Tiles must add up to 5. Answers are 3-3 (vertical) and 2-2 (horizontal).

For medium difficulty, you'll encounter:

- Equal 1: Tiles must be equal to 1. Answers are 1-3 (vertical), 1-2 (vertical), and 1-4 (horizontal).

- Greater Than 6: Tiles must be greater than 6. Answers are 1-4 (horizontal) and 3-6 (vertical).

- Number 4: Tiles must add up to 4. Answer is 4-2 (horizontal).

- Equal 2: Tiles must be equal to 2. Answers are 1-2 (vertical), 2-5 (horizontal), and 4-2 (horizontal).

- Greater Than 8: Tiles must be greater than 8. Answers are 2-5 (horizontal), 5-4 (horizontal), and 3-6 (vertical).

For hard difficulty, here are some examples:

- Number 3: Tiles must add up to 3. Answer is 3-0 (vertical).

- Greater Than 3: Tiles must be greater than 3. Answer is 6-0 (horizontal).

- Less Than 3: Tiles must be less than 3. Answer is 1-0 (horizontal).

- Equal 0: Tiles must be equal to 0. Answers are 3-0 (vertical), 6-0 (horizontal), and 1-0 (horizontal).

- Number 5: Tiles must add up to 5. Answer is 0-5 (horizontal).

- Equal 0: Tiles must be equal to 0. Answers are 0-5 (horizontal) and 0-0 (horizontal).

- Number 16: Tiles must add up to 16. Answer is 5-5 (vertical) and 6-1 (horizontal).

- Greater Than 0: Tiles must be greater than 0. Answers are 6-1 (horizontal) and 2-1 (vertical).

- Number 12: Tiles must add up to 12. Answers are 2-1 (vertical), 5-6 (horizontal).