Kode #86: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #86. 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.
- 17068▲1●1
- 22018▲0●1
- 30845▲0●1
- 42430▲0●0
- 51420▲1●0
Spoiler-free hints
- Exactly one of the four digits is even.
- The four digits add up to 19.
- 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 4 (2 4 3 0) has no marks at all, so 2, 4, 3, and 0 are not in the code.
- Row 5 (1 4 2 0) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 1. So it is in the code.
- Row 2 (2 0 1 8) has one mark, already accounted for by 1. That rules out 8.
- Row 1 (7 0 6 8) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 7 and 6. So both are in the code.
- Row 3 (0 8 4 5) 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: 1, 5, 6, and 7. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 9.
- Row 5 (1 4 2 0) has one digit in the right spot, and the 1 in position 1 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
- Row 1 (7 0 6 8) has one digit in the right spot. Since position 1 is already 1, it has to be the 6 in position 3.
- The 5 has only one spot left: position 2 (row 3 rules out position 4, position 1 is already 1, and position 3 is already 6).
- That leaves the 7 for position 4.
That cracks it: the code is 1567.