Nerdle #1408 Answer
Thursday, November 27, 2025
16+26=42
- Structure
- AB+CD=EF
- Type
- Double-Digit Addition
- Result
- 42
How the clues would have read
- Today's equation begins with a two-digit number in the 10s.
- This puzzle uses addition only.
- The result is a 2-digit even number.
The numbers behind it
- Divisibility: 16 is divisible by 2, 4, and 8, 26 is divisible by 2 and 13, and 42 is divisible by 2, 3, 6, 7, 14, and 21
- Digital roots: 16 → 1+6 = 7, 26 → 2+6 = 8, 42 → 4+2 = 6
- Prime factorization: 16 = 2⁴, 26 = 2×13, 42 = 2×3×7
Why the structure matters
This puzzle's shape is AB+CD=EF — a double-digit addition, where each letter stands for one digit. Recognising the shape before the arithmetic is what separates a three-guess solve from a six-guess struggle: once you know the equation is a double-digit addition, most of the search space is gone before you have spent a single guess.
The result, 42, factors as 2×3×7 — those factors are exactly the operations that could have produced it.
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