Kode #125: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #125. 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.
- 14856▲1●1
- 24706▲0●1
- 32940▲0●2
- 41074▲0●0
- 56418▲0●1
Spoiler-free hints
- 2 of the four digits are even.
- The four digits add up to 22.
- 3 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 4 (1 0 7 4) has no marks at all, so 1, 0, 7, and 4 are not in the code.
- Row 2 (4 7 0 6) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 6. So it is in the code.
- Row 3 (2 9 4 0) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 2 and 9. So both are in the code.
- Row 5 (6 4 1 8) has one mark, already accounted for by 6. That rules out 8.
- Row 1 (4 8 5 6) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 5. So it is in the code.
- That makes all four digits of the code: 2, 5, 6, and 9. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 3.
- Row 1 (4 8 5 6) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 6 in position 4, it has to be the 5 in position 3.
- The 6 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 5 rules out position 1, row 2 rules out position 4, and position 3 is already 5).
- The 2 has only one spot left: position 4 (row 3 rules out position 1, position 2 is already 6, and position 3 is already 5).
- That leaves the 9 for position 1.
That cracks it: the code is 9652.