#194 · Thursday, 18 June 2026

Ladder answer

• PRINT 5 letters
• POINTER 7 letters — adds two letters to the rung below
• REPORTING 9 letters — adds two letters to the rung below

PRINT sits inside POINTER, which sits inside REPORTING — the two letters added at each rung are the whole puzzle. Scrambles shown that day: TRPNI · ETIORNP · OTIRRPGNE.

LockCode answer: 7218

The clues and what each one tells you:

1. 1872 has every digit of the code — only the order is wrong.
2. 6975: 0 in the right place, 1 in the wrong place — 1 of 6, 9, 7, 5 are in the code.
3. 6349 scored nothing, so 6, 3, 4, 9 are all out.
4. 6517: 1 in the right place, 1 in the wrong place — 2 of 6, 5, 1, 7 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.