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Kode #93: hints & solution

Here's the clue board for Kode #93. 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.

  • 11432▲1●1
  • 22437▲0●2
  • 39372▲1●0
  • 47906▲0●2
  • 59320▲0●0

Spoiler-free hints

  • 2 of the four digits are even.
  • The four digits add up to 18.
  • 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 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 (9 3 2 0) has no marks at all, so 9, 3, 2, and 0 are not in the code.
  2. Row 1 (1 4 3 2) has 2 marks still unexplained, and only 2 digits are left undecided: 1 and 4. So both are in the code.
  3. Row 2 (2 4 3 7) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 7. So it is in the code.
  4. Row 4 (7 9 0 6) has one mark still unexplained, and only one digit is left undecided: 6. So it is in the code.
  5. That makes all four digits of the code: 1, 4, 6, and 7. Every other digit is out, which also rules out 5 and 8.
  6. Row 1 (1 4 3 2) has one digit in the right spot. Since row 2 rules out the 4 in position 2, it has to be the 1 in position 1.
  7. Row 3 (9 3 7 2) has one digit in the right spot, and the 7 in position 3 is its only digit in the code, so it's locked in.
  8. The 4 has only one spot left: position 4 (row 2 rules out position 2, position 1 is already 1, and position 3 is already 7).
  9. That leaves the 6 for position 2.

That cracks it: the code is 1674.

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