Kode #188: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #188. 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.
- 12058▲1●1
- 22359▲0●1
- 36054▲0●2
- 43951▲1●0
- 54315▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- 3 of the four digits are even.
- The four digits add up to 23.
- 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 5 (4 3 1 5) has no marks at all, so 4, 3, 1, and 5 are not in the code.
- Row 3 (6 0 5 4) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 6 and 0. So both are in the code.
- Row 4 (3 9 5 1) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 9. So it is in the code.
- Row 2 (2 3 5 9) has one mark, already accounted for by 9. That rules out 2.
- Row 1 (2 0 5 8) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 8. So it is in the code.
- That makes all four digits of the code: 0, 6, 8, and 9. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 7.
- Row 1 (2 0 5 8) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 3 rules out the 0 in position 2, it has to be the 8 in position 4.
- Row 4 (3 9 5 1) has one digit in the right spot, and the 9 in position 2 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
- The 6 has only one spot left: position 3 (row 3 rules out position 1, position 2 is already 9, and position 4 is already 8).
- That leaves the 0 for position 1.
That cracks it: the code is 0968.