Round 1:
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Round 2:
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Round 3:
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Round 4:
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Round 5:
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Round 6:
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Round 7:
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Round 8:
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Round 9:
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Spoiler space
13 comments:
I was a bit annoyed to talk myself out of two better answers tonight. My actual answers:
1. SHOOTER (not risking GROTTOES)
2. EGOISM
3. 711 = 9*(75 + 4)
4. TENDRILS
5. PRANK
6. 732 = 7*100 + 50 - 10 - 8
7. AMBER (not risking BRAHMAN)
8. 638 = 9*(75 - 4) - (3 - 2)
9. EFFECTING
I also saw but didn't risk BRAHMAN, I thought it would be capitalised wouldn't it?
I had a decent game, but not as good as the last few nights I felt (some very awkward letters rounds though), and I solved the conundrum for once.
1. HOOTERS
2. GOLEMS
3. 709 = 4*(100 + 75) + 9 (very nice puzzle - solved a few minutes after time)
4. LOITERS
5. FREAK
6. 732 = 5*(100 + 50) - 10 - 8
7. BARMAN
8. 638 = 9*(75 - 4) - (3 - 2)
9. EFFECTING (5s)
Thanks Geoff.
SHOOTER
MOGULS
75*9 + 25 = 700 100/50*4=8. 700+8=708
After time I got one closer (75+4)*9 -50/25=709
TENDRILS
KNAPE, FRANK
100*7 + 50 - (10+8) = 732
BRAHMAN
9*(75 - 3*2) = 639
even with the ING ending, I still didn't get it. Bleh
I risked BRAHMAN, and then looked up the dictionary, to happily find that it could be with lower case
Oops - my last numbers is very wrong. I really stuffed it up. Wrote down something wrong in my working out, and then compounded it.
Victor: Well done to solve the 710 after time -- it takes a bit of doing! One would normally expect BRAHMAN to be capitalised only, like ARAB or SCOTTIE, and indeed this is true for its meaning as a breed of cattle. However, it has another meaning as a generic term for someone with the perceived qualities of a Brahman (in the sense of the priestly cast): "2. (often lower case) a person of great culture and intellect. 3. (often lower case) a snobbish or aloof intellectual." This is similar to how "adonis" and "goliath" are acceptable also.
I also saw the BAHA MEN in that mix, but that was of no use.
Well done on risking BRAHMAN, Jan -- a successful gambit this time. TENDRILS was also a rather good spot.
Longer breakdown in the next comment.
Round 1: T G R E O S T H O
I had OGRE, OGRES, HOOTERS / SHOOTER, GROTTOS, and GROTTOES. I was not sure which plural form the Macquarie would allow and the former looked more natural to me, so I played it safe with SHOOTER. It turns out that both are considered acceptable and GROTTOES is the only eight.
The other sevens are GHETTOS, RESHOOT / SOOTHER, and TOOTERS.
Round 2: W G I U L M E S O
Ergh, a nasty mix. I had GLUM, had my usual confusion about whether it was spelled MUESLI (correct) or MEUSLI (incorrect), GLOWS, wondered about GUILES (seems like it should be a mass noun to me), and was relieved to spot safe sixes of EGOISM and GOLEMS at last.
There's a few other sixes, but the one I like is MOGULS (ably found by Jan).
Round 3: Target 710 from 100 75 50 25 4 9
I found a one-away 711 = 9*(75 + 4) relatively early on, and could not better it.
It turns out that there is an essentially unique solution to this, which uses the obvious factorisation of 71*10. It is 710 = (75 - 4)*50/(9 - 4), where one of those 4's is 100/25.
Round 4: T S D R I E O L N
Decent letters, but the L is often less useful than it seems like it should be. I had DIRT, wondered about DIRTS (I think a case exists for it), STRIDE, SOLDIER, ORIENTS, and TENDRILS.
The other eight is RETINOLS. Choosing a fourth vowel here would have allowed DOLERITES for nine.
Round 5: E A A F P N R A K
Ergh, too many A's. I had PAEAN, PARKA, FREAK, FRANK, and PRANK.
I could not do better, but there is a unique six: FRAENA, plural of FRAENUM -- a word that I have mentioned a few times on the blog, I think. An example of a FRAENUM is the membrane that holds the underside of the tongue to the bottom of one's mouth.
Round 6: Target 732 from 50 100 7 10 8 5
I started by just trying to get close and the rest fell easily into place: 732 = 7*100 + 50 - 10 - 8.
Round 7: A A E B H R A M N
More A's! One thing producing these games has done is convince me that the show did shuffle the letters in such a way as to greatly reduce the likelihood of adjacent matches -- it seems that a purely random approach produces many more clusters.
Anyway, I had BEAR, AMBER, and incorrectly rejected BRAHMAN. This was based on the same reasoning that would reject ARAB or SCOTTIE, but I had failed to realise that it was also a generic term for a certain kind of person (see the previous comment). After time I found BARMAN (and BARMEN) as safe sixes.
Another six is BRAHMA, a breed of chicken. But there is an eight! It is HABANERA, a Cuban dance.
Round 8: Target 638 from 75 100 9 4 2 3
The target is 37 away from 9*75, and 9*4 is 36, so a little tweak and an adjustment sees one home: 638 = 9*(75 - 4) - (3 - 2).
There's a fair few other solutions, but my favourite is 638 = 9*(75 + 4 + 3) - 100.
Round 9: FENCE GIFT
The -ING fragment is always worth a look, particularly in conundrums. In this case it leads to EFFECTING.
(Side note: This was about the fortieth conundrum produced by my generator; the others were either too obscure (and not necessarily in the Macquarie), did not decompose well, or turned out to have alternative answers after all.)
Are you all night owls? I usually do mine early morning!
GROTTOS
GLOWS
9*75+50-(100/25*4)=709 (1 off)
LISTED (didn't see this one 'listed'- ha
PRANK
7*(100+5)-(8-50/10)=732 (boy, did I go the scenic route on this one!)
HAREM (saw BRAHMAN after time)
(4+3)*100-75+9+2=636
x had EFF...ING in my work book and still didn't get it!
Mike - sleep is hard for me, so playing with letters and numbers is fun. I also do cryptic crosswords at weird times during the night!
Geoff - that was a lot of work trying to get a decent conundrum. Thanks.
Jan
It's just that I checked the blog before I went to bed last night to see if there was new game. Nothing.
And when I woke early this morning and checked, there were already 6 comments! I thought all the action has been occurring late at night!
I'm a night owl, anyway, Mike. *chuckles*
While the system may not be the best it beats what SBS is doing now...
SHOOTER
LIMOS
711-(75+4)*9
TOILERS
PRANK
732-7*100+50-10-8
BARN
638-(75-4)*9-(3-2)
12s
No shortage of multiple 'A's here.
1. SHOOTER
2. x EULOGISM (not in Macq)
3. 709 = (100+75)*4 + 9 One of those easy to get one-away, near impossible to solve in time.
4. TENDRILS, but may have been late, otherwise: STEROID
5. PRANK
6. 732 = 7*100 + 50 - 10 - 8
7. BARMAN
8. 638 = 9*(75 - 4) - (3 - 2)
9. EFFECTING ~1.4s (hard to compare time to TV show perfectly)
Round 3: (75-4)*(50/(9-(100/25)))
Ron
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