Kode #12: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #12. 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.
- 11574▲1●1
- 28514▲0●2
- 35476▲1●1
- 44301▲0●2
- 52834▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- 2 of the four digits are even.
- The four digits add up to 12.
- 2 of the digits are 5 or higher.
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 10 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.
- Row 5 (2 8 3 4) has no marks at all, so 2, 8, 3, and 4 are not in the code.
- Row 2 (8 5 1 4) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 5 and 1. So both are in the code.
- Row 1 (1 5 7 4) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 1 and 5. That rules out 7.
- Row 3 (5 4 7 6) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 6. So it is in the code.
- Row 4 (4 3 0 1) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 0. So it is in the code.
- That makes all four digits of the code: 0, 1, 5, and 6. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 9.
- Row 1 (1 5 7 4) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 5 in position 2, it has to be the 1 in position 1.
- Row 3 (5 4 7 6) has one digit in the right spot. Since position 1 is already 1, it has to be the 6 in position 4.
- The 0 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 4 rules out position 3, position 1 is already 1, and position 4 is already 6).
- That leaves the 5 for position 3.
That cracks it: the code is 1056.