Kode #13: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #13. 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.
- 17629▲1●1
- 27608▲0●1
- 39327▲1●1
- 41859▲0●2
- 54903▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- Exactly one of the four digits is even.
- The four digits add up to 15.
- 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 (4 9 0 3) has no marks at all, so 4, 9, 0, and 3 are not in the code.
- Row 3 (9 3 2 7) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 2 and 7. So both are in the code.
- Row 1 (7 6 2 9) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 7 and 2. That rules out 6.
- Row 2 (7 6 0 8) has one mark, already accounted for by 7. That rules out 8.
- Row 4 (1 8 5 9) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 1 and 5. So both are in the code.
- Row 1 (7 6 2 9) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 7 in position 1, it has to be the 2 in position 3.
- Row 3 (9 3 2 7) has only one digit in the right spot, already accounted for by the 2 in position 3. So the 7 isn't in position 4.
- The 7 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 2 rules out position 1, row 3 rules out position 4, and position 3 is already 2).
- The 1 has only one spot left: position 4 (row 4 rules out position 1, position 2 is already 7, and position 3 is already 2).
- That leaves the 5 for position 1.
That cracks it: the code is 5721.