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Kode #113: hints & solution

Here's the clue board for Kode #113. Start with the spoiler-free hints. If you're still stuck, the full step-by-step solution is below, hidden until you open it.

The clue board

Each row is a guess that's already been graded. ▲ means a right digit in the right spot; ● means a right digit in the wrong spot.

  • 17320▲1●1
  • 29520▲0●1
  • 32734▲1●1
  • 49682▲0●0
  • 53106▲0●3

Spoiler-free hints

  • 2 of the four digits are even.
  • The four digits add up to 8.
  • Every digit is below 5.

Try the hints first. The solution below walks through every deduction.

Step-by-step solution

Every Kode can be cracked by pure deduction, with no guessing. This board falls in 9 logical steps. Open the solution to follow them one at a time.

Show the solution · reveals the code

When a row "rules out" a position, it shows that digit there but its ▲ marks are already used up (or it has none), so the digit can't sit there.

  1. Row 4 (9 6 8 2) has no marks at all, so 9, 6, 8, and 2 are not in the code.
  2. Row 5 (3 1 0 6) has 3 marks still unexplained, and only 3 digits are left undecided: 3, 1, and 0. So all of them are in the code.
  3. Row 1 (7 3 2 0) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 3 and 0. That rules out 7.
  4. Row 2 (9 5 2 0) has one mark, already accounted for by 0. That rules out 5.
  5. Row 3 (2 7 3 4) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 4. So it is in the code.
  6. Row 1 (7 3 2 0) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 0 in position 4, it has to be the 3 in position 2.
  7. Row 3 (2 7 3 4) has one digit in the right spot. Since the 3 is already in position 2, it has to be the 4 in position 4.
  8. The 0 has only one spot left: position 1 (row 5 rules out position 3, position 2 is already 3, and position 4 is already 4).
  9. That leaves the 1 for position 3.

That cracks it: the code is 0314.

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