Kode #46: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #46. 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.
- 17684▲1●1
- 20687▲0●2
- 35801▲0●2
- 46037▲1●1
- 56241▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- Exactly one of the four digits is 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 (6 2 4 1) has no marks at all, so 6, 2, 4, and 1 are not in the code.
- Row 1 (7 6 8 4) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 7 and 8. So both are in the code.
- Row 2 (0 6 8 7) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 8 and 7. That rules out 0.
- Row 3 (5 8 0 1) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 5. So it is in the code.
- Row 4 (6 0 3 7) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 3. So it is in the code.
- That makes all four digits of the code: 3, 5, 7, and 8. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 9.
- Row 1 (7 6 8 4) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 8 in position 3, it has to be the 7 in position 1.
- Row 4 (6 0 3 7) has one digit in the right spot. Since the 7 is already in position 1, it has to be the 3 in position 3.
- The 8 has only one spot left: position 4 (row 3 rules out position 2, position 1 is already 7, and position 3 is already 3).
- That leaves the 5 for position 2.
That cracks it: the code is 7538.