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Kode #192: hints & solution

Here's the clue board for Kode #192. Start with the spoiler-free hints. If you're still stuck, the full step-by-step solution is below, hidden until you open it.

Play Kode #192

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.

  • 15382▲1●1
  • 20384▲0●1
  • 35920▲1●1
  • 41743▲1●1
  • 54075▲0●0

Spoiler-free hints

  • Exactly one of the four digits is even.
  • The four digits add up to 15.
  • Just one digit is 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 5 (4 0 7 5) has no marks at all, so 4, 0, 7, and 5 are not in the code.
  2. Row 3 (5 9 2 0) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 9 and 2. So both are in the code.
  3. Row 4 (1 7 4 3) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 1 and 3. So both are in the code.
  4. Row 1 (5 3 8 2) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 3 and 2. That rules out 8.
  5. That makes all four digits of the code: 1, 2, 3, and 9. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 6.
  6. Row 1 (5 3 8 2) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 3 in position 2, it has to be the 2 in position 4.
  7. Row 3 (5 9 2 0) has one digit in the right spot. Since the 2 is already in position 4, it has to be the 9 in position 2.
  8. Row 4 (1 7 4 3) has one digit in the right spot. Since position 4 is already 2, it has to be the 1 in position 1.
  9. That leaves the 3 for position 3.

That cracks it: the code is 1932.

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