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
6 comments:
Geoff, I found your comment about the letters on the show, and whether they were manipulated in any way interesting. They certainly seemed a lot friendlier at times, than your, presumably, random lot. Especially in terms of 3 or 4 same letters. I know they were friendlier than I often get in Scrabble!
Anyway, your letters are a challenge! Don't put pressure on yourself in changing the format. I am just very happy that you are continuing doing this.
CRAFTIER
SPANNER
25*8 + 6*7 - 1 = 241
MITRED (I am presuming RETIMED is not valid) would MITERED be ok?
TURBOT
8*100 + 6*4 = 824
SALADS
100 + 50 + 25 - ( 7*2) = 161
DISLODGES - 80 secs
Hi Geoff, I have nearly caught up with the episodes I missed (one to go), so couldn't resist checking the blog. It is very disappointing to see that the afternoon L&N repeats have ceased.
Quite happy with these answers, though there might have been better words in the tough mixes that I missed.
ARTIFICE
PLANNERS
241 = 8*25 + 6*7 - 1
DEMERIT
RAGOUT
824 = (100+4-1)*8
SALADS
161 = 100+50+25 - 7*2
DISLODGES ~20s
Thanks Jan, but I want to change the presentation a bit; it can certainly be a lot better, and I've got some ideas along those lines.
With regard to the letters, it's not so much about manipulation as it is about the difficulty of humans producing genuinely random results. (Witness Lily's number selections, for instance.) I can think of a few apparently-reasonable approaches that might produce the same anti-clustering. That said, I think that less clustering is generally good for word length, and I might experiment with techniques for that.
As far as your words go, I have to point out that there was only one R, so CRAFTIER does not get the nod. RETIMED and MITERED are both acceptable, as it turns out.
And I'm glad to hear from you, Sam! I was thinking that you'd been gone somewhat long, but then realised you must have been attempting to catch up before looking. You've got a few of these non-show games to go, anyway. Very nice results tonight, too!
Longer breakdown to follow, but here's the short form:
1. FATTIER (saw ARTIFICE after time)
2. UNLEARNS
3. 241 = 8*25 + 6*7 - 1
4. DEMERIT
5. RAGOUT (a slight slip here; I had OUTBRAG written down but forgot to think about declaring it -- it is valid)
6. 824 = 8*100 + 6*4
7. [invalid: SALSAED]
8. 161 = 7*(25 - 2)
9. -
I'm a bit wary of this conundrum, as I know that Countdown has a rule against conundrums ending in a trivial S. But the L&N rules make no mention of that, so I kept it.
The phantom letter strikes again! I did have FATTIER, before I found the non existent craftier. Bummer
Nice to have you back Sam :)
Here are mine:
FATTIER
SPANNER
x out of time
x WEIRDED (I realise now this is probably American slang and in conjuction with OUT)
RATBAG
Sam's way
SALADS
Jan and Sam's way
x
Ooh, RATBAG -- love it! Bad luck with WEIRDED, too -- I did check it, but no joy. The longer version:
Round 1: T C T I E F A R I
I had CITE, ATTIC, floundered a bit with the invalid FRICATE and CITATE (somehow overlooking the valid CITRATE), then found CATTIER and FATTIER for safe sevens. After time I saw ARTIFICE for an eight, and was a bit disappointed to miss it.
The other eight is TRIFECTA, and all the sevens have been mentioned.
Round 2: R N L A U S P E N
I had LUNAR and UNLEARNS.
The other eights are PLANNERS and SUPERNAL ("lofty; of more than earthly or human excellence, powers, etc.") / PURSLANE (another name for PORTULACA, a type of salad plant).
Round 3: Target 241 from 25 75 6 1 7 8
The standard method is clear here, giving me both 241 = 7*25 + 75 - 8 - 1 and 241 = 6*25 + 75 + 8 + 7 + 1. But it seemed simpler to go with the more prosaic 241 = 8*25 + 7*6 - 1.
Round 4: W D T M E I E R D
I had TIMED and DEMERIT / MERITED. I would have liked another vowel here, with an A allowing DIAMETER.
The other sevens are all anagrams of the above two: RETIMED, MITERED, and DIMETER ("a verse or line of two measures or feet").
Round 5: T T R U O A B A G
I had TROUT / TUTOR, RAGOUT, OUTBRAG, and TURBOT. I had OUTBRAG marked as speculative, but thought that I had seen it in my frequent checks of the OUT- words (this is correct; it is in the block entries). Unfortunately I got distracted by offline matters at that point and when I came back I forgot that I was yet to properly decide what to declare, and assumed that I had stuck with RAGOUT. Rather careless!
There is another seven: TUGBOAT.
Round 6: Target 824 from 100 50 6 4 8 1
I started with a straightforward 824 = 8*100 + 6*4 then also noted the alternative 824 = 8*(100 + 4 - 1).
Round 7: D L S A E A L S A
I had LADS, DEALS, SALADS, and wondered about SALSAED (and, less seriously, about LADLESS). I eventually decided to risk it (with the thought that SALSA might be a verb meaning to dance a salsa), but this was the wrong option.
There are no sevens after all. The other sixes are LADLES and SALADA; that latter is not the biscuit, but rather a Victorian colloquial shortening of "see you later". (The biscuit name is responsible for this form, though.)
Round 8: Target 161 from 100 50 25 7 3 2
I recognised the target as 7*23, which led immediately to 161 = 7*(25 - 2). For good measure I wrote down the alternative 161 = 100 + 50 + 25 - 2*7.
Round 9: GOLD SIDES
I did not get this within time (although it was not presented in this form). I admit that I lacked the surety it was solvable, which might have helped. As Sam and Jan noted, the answer is DISLODGES.
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