Kode #7: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #7. 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.
- 14370▲1●1
- 20372▲0●2
- 37831▲0●2
- 45397▲1●1
- 53289▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- Exactly one of the four digits is even.
- The four digits add up to 13.
- 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 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 (3 2 8 9) has no marks at all, so 3, 2, 8, and 9 are not in the code.
- Row 2 (0 3 7 2) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 0 and 7. So both are in the code.
- Row 1 (4 3 7 0) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 7 and 0. That rules out 4.
- Row 3 (7 8 3 1) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 1. So it is in the code.
- Row 4 (5 3 9 7) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 5. So it is in the code.
- That makes all four digits of the code: 0, 1, 5, and 7. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 6.
- Row 1 (4 3 7 0) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 7 in position 3, it has to be the 0 in position 4.
- Row 4 (5 3 9 7) has one digit in the right spot. Since position 4 is already 0, it has to be the 5 in position 1.
- The 7 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 2 rules out position 3, position 1 is already 5, and position 4 is already 0).
- That leaves the 1 for position 3.
That cracks it: the code is 5710.