Kode #88: hints & solution
Here's the clue board for Kode #88. 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.
- 16327▲1●1
- 26820▲0●1
- 39378▲0●2
- 48156▲1●0
- 59816▲0●0
Spoiler-free hints
- Exactly one of the four digits is even.
- The four digits add up to 15.
- 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 (9 8 1 6) has no marks at all, so 9, 8, 1, and 6 are not in the code.
- Row 3 (9 3 7 8) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 3 and 7. So both are in the code.
- Row 1 (6 3 2 7) has 2 marks, already accounted for by 3 and 7. That rules out 2.
- Row 2 (6 8 2 0) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 0. So it is in the code.
- Row 4 (8 1 5 6) 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, 3, 5, and 7. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 4.
- Row 1 (6 3 2 7) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 3 rules out the 3 in position 2, it has to be the 7 in position 4.
- Row 4 (8 1 5 6) has one digit in the right spot, and the 5 in position 3 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
- The 3 has only one spot left: position 1 (row 3 rules out position 2, position 3 is already 5, and position 4 is already 7).
- That leaves the 0 for position 2.
That cracks it: the code is 3057.