Wednesday 2 January 2013

NG 34

New game 34 is up.


Round 1: T C N A A S B U N

I had CANT ("a secret language or jargon formerly spoken by the criminal class in England in order to deceive, consisting chiefly of invented words of unknown origin") and SCANT.  After time I found dubious potential sixes of UNBANS and UNCAST (neither is valid) and finally a solid one of SUNTAN.

Six is the best to be done; the others are ABACUS, CANTUS ("a song; melody"), CANNAS (CANNA being a type of plant), and SANCTA (one plural form of SANCTUM: "a sacred or holy place").


Round 2: T S R A E R P O O

I had STAR, ASTER, an uncertain RATERS (not valid -- STARER would have been the way to go), a similarly uncertain PARTERS (turns out to be acceptable, while PARTERS is not), and then recognised the first eight letters as PRORATES.  This was significant for two reasons: Firstly, because I knew that PRORATES was not listed in the Macquarie, but more importantly because I knew (from Countdown recaps) that any vowel added to it would allow a full monty.  Fortunately the last letter was a vowel and I soon had OPERATORS for nine.

(The other potential nines were A: SEPARATOR; E: PERORATES; I: PRIORATES; U: PTEROSAUR.  Good thing it was not a U, as I was not able to recall that last one and had to look it up.)

The eights are OPERATOR, TROOPERS, and SORORATE ("marriage with a wife's sister").  The plausible-looking PRAETORS is not valid.


Round 3: Target 499 from 100 6 1 1 10 3

The idea is pretty clear, especially with a 1 handy, and I soon had 499 = (6 - 1)*100 - 1.


Round 4: O M P D O I I R C

I had DOOM, IDIOM, and CRIMP.  I kept getting distracted by the almost-PERIODIC there, but could not better five.  After time I considered MICROPOD (presumably a very small foot, or something a bit large than the iPod Nano), but no joy on that front.

There is a six here, though: OPIOID.


Round 5: R A A E L S C N L

I had AREA, REAL, LASER, CLEARS, LANCERS, and CALLERS.  I also wondered about CANALLERS, but correctly decided against it; although the Macquarie does list CANAL as a verb ("to make a canal through") with participles CANALLED and CANALLING, there is no associated agent noun of CANALLER.

There is one possible eight here: CANELLAS (CANNELLA: "the cinnamon-like bark of a West Indian tree [...] used as a condiment and in medicine").  There's a case to be made for that being a mass noun, though.

The other sevens are CANELLA, CELLARS / RECALLS, SCALARE (another name for the angelfish), ARSENAL, and ANLACES (ANLACE: "a medieval dagger or short sword, worn in front of the person").


Round 6: Target 341 from 100 50 2 10 9 5

Although I spotted the factorisation of 11*31, working with 350 - 9 was the more tempting option.  I started with 341 = 5*50 + 100 - 9 and spent the rest of the time unsuccessfully trying to use that factorisation.


Round 7: K B T I E E D H U

I had BITE, DEBIT, and BETIDE.

That was it for me, and BETIDE does seem to be the only six.  There's a few other fives to be had.


Round 8: Target 190 from 75 100 5 8 10 4

I started with the obvious 190 = 100 + 75 + 10 + 5, then switched to 190 = 100 + (5 + 4)*10, then found a way to make it as 19*10: 190 = ((4*75/100)*8 - 5)*10.


Round 9: EMIT GRUNT

The -ING fragment is usually worth a look, and in this case it led me to MUTTERING some 2.2 seconds in.

8 comments:

Jan said...

Geoff, I was thinking of DHURRIES as a cigarette. I have looked it up and the spelling of the ciggy is DURRIES. I am glad I didn't spell it 'right' last night!

Anyway tonight's efforts

SUNTAN
TROOPERS
(6-1)*100 - 1 = 499
DROOP - thought of DORIC, but I think that is a proper noun.
CALLERS, LANCERS
(5-2)*100 + 50 - 9 = 341
DEBUT, DEBIT, HIKED
100 + 75 + 5 + 10 = 190
MUTTERING - 28.2 secs

Easy numbers tonight

Mike Backhouse said...

Here are mine:

STABS (SUNTAN after time)
POSTER (POOREST after time)
Jan's way
CRIMP
CALLERS
2*(100+50+10+9)+5=343 (2 off) and Jan's way after time
HIKED
Jan's way
MUTTERING 32s (missed by that much!)

P.S. Wish that guy would get lost in a cave!

Victor said...

My answers;

1. SCANT
2. SORORATE
3. 499 = (6 - 1)*100 - 1
4. DROOP
5. CELLARS
6. 341 = (5 + 2)*50 - 9
7. DEBIT
8. 190 = 100 + 75 + 10 + 5
9. MUTTERING (2.1s)

Sam Gaffney said...

1. SCANT
2. x PRORATES
3. 499 = (10*100-1-1)*3/6
4. IDIOM
5. CALLERS
6. 341 = 5*50 -100 -9
7. DEBIT
8. 190 = (100-5)*8/4
9. MUTTERING (0.9s)

Mike Backhouse said...

I've realised there was only one S in the first letters game so my word was invalid! Grrr...

Geoff Bailey said...

Mike: Was that a reference to one of the anonymous spammers? Fortunately the spam is easy to spot, but I may end up turning off anonymous comments -- the spam levels have really picked up recently. Also, bad luck with STABS.

Victor: SORORATE is a lovely find, and you just pipped me to the conundrum. Although it comes as no surprise to see that Speedy Sam has got there even sooner.

Bad luck on PRORATES, Sam -- that's a gotcha from Countdown. Great speed on the conundrum again!

Jan: Heh. A little luck can go a long way -- it was still good vision! And yes, DORIC is capitalised (but an adjective, not a noun).

Mike Backhouse said...

Geoff, yes, the spammer was inviting us to his site, 'lost in a cave'! After I noted you'd taken it down, I thought everyone would think I'd gone mad!

JT said...

As an SA, laughed a little to reference to a great Adelaide company in round 5....

xUNCANTS
TROOPERS
Same as jan
CRIMP
CLEANS
341-(5+2)*50-9
HIKED
190-100+75+5+10
-