NG 37

New game 37 is up.


Round 1: I E F TN I I R D

An excess of I's to start, so it looks like it's going to be one of those games.  I had FEINT, FINITE, and NIFTIER (helfpully still in my memory as valid after Jan found it in NG 30).

The other sevens are NITRIDE / INDITER (INDITE: "to compose or write, as a speech, poem, etc.").

But there is a nine!  To NITRIFY is "to impregnate (soil, etc.) with nitrates", and so NITRIFIED is the full monty.


Round 2: B E T U S W E C A

I had TUBE, TUBES, and BECAUSE.  I amused myself by pondering things such as a CUBESEAT (I have one of these, or something essentially the same) or a WASTECUBE, but could not better the seven.

There is one other seven, a typical new Macquarie word: WEBCAST.


Round 3: Target 255 from 100 25 10 3 9 10

I flailed for a bit, but then the factor of 3 came to my rescue and I found 255 = (100 - 25 + 10)*3.  With 25 and a pair of 10's around getting most multiples of 5 should be relatively straightforward, and I also found 255 = 9*25 + 3*10.

After time I played around with some other options and also found 255 = 3*9*10 + 10 - 25.  But it took until just now for me to spot the rather straightforward 255 = 3*100 - 25 - 10 - 10.  Heh.


Round 4: N E M E E D L G E

Yes, definitely one of those games, and with so many E's so early it's entirely possible there won't be any more for the rest of the game.  I had EMEND, wrote down GLEENED but realised I was thinking of GLEANED, and LEGEND.

The other six is NEEDLE; there should be a third one of LEGMEN (LEGMAN being a variant form of the colloquial LEG MAN: "someone who runs errands, especially for a business office"), but for some reason the Macquarie omits the plural form.

There is one seven, though: GLEEMEN (plural of GLEEMAN: "a strolling professional singer or minstrel").


Round 5: I I P T O A L N O

I had PATIO, wondered about PILATION -- in retrospect I was thinking of EPILATION -- but ultimately rejected it, and PLATOON.

There is an eight here: OPTIONAL (nicely spotted, Victor).  The other seven is PINTAIL, which can refer to a few different birds.


Round 6: Target 990 from 100 3 2 10 8 9

I started fairly easily with 990 = 9*(100 + 10), then went down from above with 990 = 10*100 - 8 - 2, and finished by avoiding the large number entirely with 990 = (8 + 3)*9*10.


Round 7: I S M O O C D A C

I had MOOS, DOOMS / MOODS, and COMICS / COSMIC.

Six seems to be the best possible; the others are COCOAS, CADMIC (adjective derived from the element CADMIUM), and MOSAIC.  Some sources would allow MODICA as a plural form of MODICUM, but not the Macquarie.


Round 8: Target 186 from 100 8 4 10 9 5

I went with 186 = 100 + 9*10 - 4, and did not really look for more.


Round 9: NEW DOLLAR

A tricky one, it feels.  I started off by looking at the -OWN- fragment, DOWN- in particular, but nothing came of that.  I tried -LAND but was likewise unsuccesful, but then considered -LANDER and after 11.4s had the answer of LOWLANDER.  This is essentially the flipside to a more familiar HIGHLANDER.