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Kode #182: hints & solution

Here's the clue board for Kode #182. 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.

  • 19837▲1●1
  • 26032▲0●2
  • 31456▲1●0
  • 46894▲0●0
  • 51269▲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 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 (6 8 9 4) has no marks at all, so 6, 8, 9, and 4 are not in the code.
  2. Row 1 (9 8 3 7) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 3 and 7. So both are in the code.
  3. Row 5 (1 2 6 9) has no marks at all, so 1 and 2 are not in the code.
  4. Row 2 (6 0 3 2) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 0. So it is in the code.
  5. Row 3 (1 4 5 6) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 5. So it is in the code.
  6. Row 1 (9 8 3 7) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 3 in position 3, it has to be the 7 in position 4.
  7. Row 3 (1 4 5 6) has one digit in the right spot, and the 5 in position 3 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
  8. The 0 has only one spot left: position 1 (row 2 rules out position 2, position 3 is already 5, and position 4 is already 7).
  9. That leaves the 3 for position 2.

That cracks it: the code is 0357.

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