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Kode #60: hints & solution

Here's the clue board for Kode #60. 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.

  • 18274▲1●1
  • 29206▲0●2
  • 33159▲1●0
  • 44906▲0●3
  • 58103▲0●0

Spoiler-free hints

  • 2 of the four digits are even.
  • The four digits add up to 26.
  • 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 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 (8 1 0 3) has no marks at all, so 8, 1, 0, and 3 are not in the code.
  2. Row 4 (4 9 0 6) has 3 marks still unexplained, and only 3 digits are left undecided: 4, 9, and 6. So all of them are in the code.
  3. Row 2 (9 2 0 6) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 9 and 6. That rules out 2.
  4. Row 1 (8 2 7 4) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 7. So it is in the code.
  5. Row 3 (3 1 5 9) has one mark, already accounted for by 9. That rules out 5.
  6. Row 3 (3 1 5 9) has one digit in the right spot, and the 9 in position 4 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
  7. Row 1 (8 2 7 4) has one digit in the right spot. Since position 4 is already 9, it has to be the 7 in position 3.
  8. The 4 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 4 rules out position 1, position 3 is already 7, and position 4 is already 9).
  9. That leaves the 6 for position 1.

That cracks it: the code is 6479.

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