#179 · Wednesday, 3 June 2026

Ladder answer

• NURSE 5 letters
• SURGEON 7 letters — adds two letters to the rung below
• DANGEROUS 9 letters — adds two letters to the rung below

NURSE sits inside SURGEON, which sits inside DANGEROUS — the two letters added at each rung are the whole puzzle. Scrambles shown that day: SNURE · NGEURSO · SGUREADNO.

LockCode answer: 9382

The clues and what each one tells you:

1. 9376: 2 in the right place, 0 in the wrong place — 2 of 9, 3, 7, 6 are in the code.
2. 7042: 1 in the right place, 0 in the wrong place — 1 of 7, 0, 4, 2 are in the code.
3. 3709: 0 in the right place, 2 in the wrong place — 2 of 3, 7, 0, 9 are in the code.
4. 3075: 0 in the right place, 1 in the wrong place — 1 of 3, 0, 7, 5 are in the code.
5. After all clues, 4 codes remain possible.

With 4 candidates left, a good second guess splits them by feedback so the third guess is forced. Read the LockCode strategy guide for the method.