NG 27

The 27th new game is up, as is the longer breakdown for number 26.


Round 1: S R B S P E E E A

I had PRESS, BASSER, SPEARS, ASPERSE, and BEEPERS.

There were two other sevens: PEERESS (a female peer) and SERAPES.


Round 2: I I H N D A O C C

I had HIND and ANODIC (adjective derived from ANODE).  I also wondered about CONCHID but figured (correctly) that I was thinking of CONCHOID.  While checking that up after time I found CONCHA ("a shell-like structure, especially the external ear") as another six.

The other sixes are ACIDIC, ICONIC, COCAIN (a variant spelling of COCAINE), and COCHIN (a breed of chicken).  But there is a seven to be had: CONIDIA, the plural of CONIDIUM.  In fact, this got a mention recently in NG 12 (although you'd have to look to the comments to find it).


Round 3: Target 468 from 100 75 6 2 3 9

The target was clearly close to 6*75, and with the offset also divisible by 6 it was a short step to 468 = 6*(75 + 3).  The target is also 9*52, although my use of that was more complicated: 468 = (100/2 + 6/3)*9.


Round 4: T T T A E G E B I

If only that last vowel had been a U then BAGUETTE would have been available.  As it was I had TEAT, GATE, and BEGET.

Five does seem to be the limit, with BEGAT and BEIGE the others.


Round 5: C L H S I A I O A

I had ALIAS and SCHOLIA.  I was not certain about this last, but decided to chance it and that was the right decision.  It is the plural of SCHOLIUM: "an explanatory note or comment".

The more common seven available here is ASOCIAL, and the remaining one is ISCHIAL (the adjective derived from ISCHIUM: "either of the bones on which the body rests when sitting").

There are a decent spread of sixes, but I'll just mention the more findable ones of SOCIAL and SILICA.


Round 6: Target 697 from 25 75 50 10 6 1

There's a few tempting option here, but I could not get them to work out.  I wanted to make the target as 6*116 + 1, but I needed the 1 to make the 116.  That did give me a one-away 696 = (75 + 50 - 10 + 1)*6, though.  Then I found one away from the other direction with 698 = (75 - (6 - 1))*10 - 50/25.

It turns out that one off is the best that can be done; the target is unreachable.


Round 7: L Z R C N O E I M

I had CORN, ENROL, MOILER, and MERLON.  After time I noted MICRON as a more common six.

There is a seven after all: INCOMER.  Plus many more sixes, of which I'll mention INCOME, RECOIL, and MERINO.


Round 8: Target 458 from 2 4 1 10 7 2

I got a bit lost here, trying too hard to make it exactly (with 46*10 - 2 being the most tempting option).  I ended up having to settle for two away with 456 = ((10 - 2)*7 + 1)*2*4, but I am pretty sure I did not get it down within time.

Afterwards I kept searching, but could not do better than two off in the other direction: 460 = 7*(10 + 1)*(4 + 2) - 2.  It turns out that two away is the best possible on this mix, so I'd have had a good result if I had not run out of time.


Round 9: MINCE MASH

I have no time to report on this one, because my random generator actually gave me MSEC CHAIN which I thought was MECHANISM.  Checking revealed that I should have gone for MECHANICS, but that ended in a trivial S and I was trying to avoid those.  Further investigation revealed that it could not be used as a conundrum in any case because MISCHANCE was a valid anagram.

I was going to move on to the next random choice, but then thought I might as well use the word that I thought I had seen.