SOS Sonya: Plan B

[Grandfather]

042

[joshsonn26]

042

[Domesday]

042

[ozzypanda]

042

[Mister_Blister]

Congrats to Milhotep for:
A. Getting the correct answer: 042.
B. Explaining the logic behind achieving the correct answer.
C. Pointing out that clues 4 and 5 were unnecessary.

Now that got me to thinking. Why were clues 4 and 5 unnecessary? They were, in fact, unnecessary; I'm not disputing Milhotep's observation. But WHY were they unnecessary? Sometimes, you might reply, puzzles are purposely presented with unnecessary information to make the puzzle more difficult to solve. But in this case, the LAST TWO clues were unnecessary. So one could have solved the puzzle before even arriving at the unnecessary portion of the puzzle. Perhaps, I thought to myself, one of the clues were presented with mistaken information. So, with much time on my hands, I set about changing the clues so that all five clues were quite necessary to arrive at the correct answer of 042. And I think I have come up with a minimal change which requires all five clues: Change the number in the second clue from 614 to 314. Does anyone agree with me? Disagree? Could care less? Think I have too much time? Please let me know.

The problem is that Milhotep's logic is faulty.

Clue 1 and Clue 2: Must be either 8 or 2. Can't be 6, because clue 2 has six--if it were correct, clue 2 says 6 is in the wrong place. So either -8- or --2, and the 4 must now come into play--either 48-, 84-, 4-2, or -42
Clue 3: There's that 6 again, and we already know it isn't right. So, must be 0 & 2. So, because they are in the wrong place, and we know the combo is --2, it must now be 042. Middle number can't be 8 because of Clue 1.
Clue 4: We didn't need this clue or the last one.

and the 4 must now come into play--either 48-, 84-, 4-2, or -42.
Actually, not yet. First, 84- is incorrect, since if it was 8 that was correct in clue 1 then it can't be in position 1. Second, there is nothing that is ruling out 1 - yet. After the first 2 clues it could just as easily be 1-2 or 18- or -81. And any deductions after that are incorrect simply by relying on a previous error.

The logic is:
Clue 1 - 682.
Combined with Clue 2 rules out 6. Can't be both in the right place and wrong place at the same time.
Combined with Clue 4 rules out 8. That means --2 to start.
Clue 3 - 206.
We know 2 is in third position, and 6 is incorrect. So 0 must be correct and not second position or third position. Now it's 0-2
Clue 2 - 614.
The missing number can't be 6 because that's ruled out. It has to be 4 because between 1 and 4, 4 is the only number that can be both correct and in the wrong place
Clue 5 - Irrelevant.

[devildogmn]

042

[brownbear0]

021

[brownbear0]

oh no 042 is correct

[Bearguide]

042

[BlueSaphire]

042