Tuesday 1 January 2013

NG 33

New game 33 is now up (a touch later than promised -- apologies).


Round 1: P M E E E K S A N

I had PEEK, PEEKS, and finally SEAMEN.

Six turns out to be the best on offer; the other one is ENEMAS.


Round 2: N A N C U D T O B

I had a speculative NUANCE, but the E did not arrive.  That left me with DUCT and ABDUCT.  Some hours later, as I was casually glancing over this game, I noticed ABOUND as another six.

Once again six is the best possible; the others are TOUCAN, CANNOT / CANTON, COBNUT (another term for a hazelnut), and OBTUND ("to blunt; dull; deaden").


Round 3: Target 585 from 25 5 7 1 3 8

When applying the standard method here, 600 is the more tempting target as the cofactor of 24 is more easily formable than 23.  The offset is 15, and a quick tweak saw me home with 585 = 3*(8*25 - 5).  I then tried to use the factorisation 5*117 and found 585 = (5*25 - 8)*5, where one of those 5's is 7 + 1 - 3.  And finally I used the further factorisation of 15*3 to get 585 = 3*5*(25 + 7 + 8 - 1).


Round 4: T A R L A I C T D

I had ALTAR, TRAIL, LARIAT, wondered about CATTAIL (not valid; the Macquarie lists CAT'S TAIL for the same concept), wondered about CARDIAL (not valid -- the appropriate form is CARDIAC), and was relieved to avoid those dodgy words with RADICAL.

RADICAL turns out to be the only seven; some sources allow RATTAIL (the hairstyle), but the Macquarie insists on RAT'S TAIL for that.


Round 5: S U E I R H D I R

I had SURE, SHIRE, wondered about RUSHIER (valid), wondered about DISHIER (not valid), SHIRRED (SHIRR: "to draw up or gather (cloth) on parallel threads"), HURRIED, and DHURRIES (DHURRIE, also spelled DHURRY: "an Indian cotton carpet, usually made in rectangular pieces with fringes at the ends").  I was a touch concerned about that last in case the Macquarie had one of its failure-to-list-the-plural-form moments, but it turns out that DHURRIE is the main spelling.

I was pretty pleased about DHURRIES, and it is the only eight.  The other sevens are DHURRIE, HURRIES, and DURRIES (plural of DURRY, colloquial for a cigarette).


Round 6: Target 181 from 75 25 100 50 6 5

Four large in play, but it's a bit of a fizzer.  I found 181 = 100 + 75 + 6 and did not bother looking for more.


Round 7: S U E S M I E R S

I had USES, MUSES, MISUSE, MESSIER, and wondered about MISUSERS.  I was still riding high from finding DHURRIES so I decided to risk it, and that was rewarded -- it is valid.  The next morning it occurred to me that SURMISES would have been a safer anagram of it.

The other eight is REISSUES.  But there is a nine!  It is MESSIEURS, the plural of MONSIEUR.


Round 8: Target 805 from 3 4 9 2 8 5

I first thought was to make this as 800 + 5, but I could not quite get 800 from the remaining small numbers.  Then I was tempted by the factor of 5, more so once I computed that the cofactor was 161, which I knew was 7*23.  I could not get that to work, though, and with time running out I switched to considered 810 - 5 instead and was fortunate enough to scramble home with a solution: 805 = (4*8 - 2)*3*9 - 5.  Phew!


Round 9: INN DIGEST

The -ING fragment is always worth investigating, but it was only on my third revisit that I found DESTINING.  Note that some sources would have allowed INDIGENTS, but the Macquarie only lists INDIGENT as an adjective.

8 comments:

Jan said...

Some tough rounds again - both letters and numbers.

I got a conundrum, but I don't think it is right. I am sure I have heard it, but it looks like it is not acceptable in the Macquarie.

PEEKS, NAMES
CANTON
(8*3)*(25-1) + 7 = 583 (2 away)
After time ((8-3)*25 - (7+1))*5 = 585
TRAIL
DHURRIES
100+75+6=181 (a heavyweight for Sam and it was so easy!)
MISUSERS
(9*(5+4))*(8+2) - 3 = 807 (2 away)
After time 9*3 - 2 = 25. 25*8*4 + 5 = 805
INDIGENTS - 26.2 secs

Mike Backhouse said...

Here are mine:

SPEAK
TOUCAN
Jan's way (in time)
TRAIL
RUSHED (loved DHURRIES Jan)
Jan's way (the only numbers game I got in the last two games and as Jan noted it was not very difficult!)
MESSIER
((9+3+4)*(8+2))*5=800 (5 off)
x- initially thought it was DIGESTING, then realised my mistake. Tried for something with -ING but nothing. If it's Jan's word it makes me feel better as I had not heard of it.

Victor said...

My answers:

1. SNAKE
2. ABDUCT
3. 585 = (8*25 - 3)*5
4. ATTIC
5. HURRIED (had RUSHED also, heh)
6. 181 = 100 + 75 + 6
7. MESSIER
8. 5-away: 800 = (9 + 4 - 3)*2*5*8
9. DESTINING - 19.7s

Victor said...

Oopsie, transcription error - the 5 and 3 should be the other way around in round 3.

Mike Backhouse said...

Victor

Wrote down DESTINING when looking for -ING words but didn't know it was a word.

Jan said...

I thought of DESTINING too, but had no idea it was a valid word. Oh well...

Geoff Bailey said...

*shakes head in admiration* You're really firing on the words, Jan -- I had hoped I'd be the only one to get DHURRIES and MISUSERS. Especially as I was unsure about the latter in particular. Bravo!

My notes are at home, but DESTINING is indeed the conundrum; INDIGENT is only listed as an adjective in the Macquarie, although other sources would allow it as a noun.

Also, pretty good handling of the six small mix today by everyone. Good job!

Sam Gaffney said...

I struggled with the rat pack again, I have been playing these games in an environment where it is hard to concentrate. It doesn't seem to matter so much for other rounds, but six small demands focus.

KEEPS
CANNOT
585 = (28*8-5)*3
TRACT
HURRIED
181 = 100+75+6 Yes Jan, what a drag.
SURMISES (also saw MISUSERS)
Probably late with this three-away: 808 = ((3*5-4)*9+2)*8
9.0s DESTINING