NG 40

New game 40 is up.  Writeups for NG 38 and NG 39 are now available.


Round 1: C M M E O I W T E

I had COME, MICE, COMMIE, EMETIC, and an uncertain MEMETIC.  I decided it was worth the risk, and that was correct; it is an adjective derived from MEME ("a cultural element, as a custom, concept, etc., which is passed on through time and across cultures by communication or imitation; contrasted with a gene which is transmitted biologically").

I'd noticed that the mix was almost equal to COMMITTEE, but even so did not think of COMMIT until after time.  That's all the sixes and the seven listed.


Round 2: I I E T H C B A N

I had ETHIC, BITCH, and CABINET.

Some sources would allow ETHICIAN for eight, but it's not in the Macquarie and seven is the limit.  The other sevens are INHABIT, CHIANTI, ICHNITE ("a fossil footprint"), BENTHIC (adjective derived from BENTHOS: "the animals and plants that live on the floor of the sea or lakes"), and BITCHIN (listed as a variant of BITCHIN', colloquial for "excellent").


Round 3: Target 676 from 75 25 4 8 4 6

The target is the square of 26, but that seems hard to use.  It's also 9*75 + 1, but again that's not easy to use.  That also means that it is 700 - 24, though, and both of those could be plausibly made; a little thought and I emerged with the solution 676 = 8*75 + 4*25 - 4*6.  Obviously that could be tweaked to save a number with 676 = 8*75 + 4*(25 - 6), but instead I looked at the approach of 680 - 4 and found the alternative of 676 = 8*(75 + 6 + 4) - 4.


Round 4: E I O T R F P D O

I had RIOT, FIRE, PROFIT, and PROFITED.  I also noted sevens of PROOFED, TORPEDO, and POOFTER, although of course the show would have never let that last go to air.

The other sevens are TROOPED, FORETOP ("Nautical a platform at the head of a foremast"), and PERIDOT / DIOPTRE ("a unit of the refractive power of a lens [...]") / DIOPTER (American spelling of DIOPTRE).


Round 5: R R M A A N U R E

Annoying repetition, but MANURE is practically spelled out there.  I had MANURE, and then a recollection of what turned out to be episode 199 let me find MANURER for seven.

That's the only seven, and the only other six is ARREAR; usually that is only in the phrase IN ARREARS, but the Macquarie does list it with a separate singular meaning.


Round 6: Target 849 from 50 75 100 8 7 5

A rather tough numbers round, this.  The fallback one-away 850 = 8*100 + 50 was easy, but getting to the target looks difficult.  I was interested in approaches like 7*107 + 100, but could not manage to get anything to work without duplication.

It turns out that this is solvable after all, although there are just two solutions.  The less findable one is 849 = 8*(75 + 50 - 7) + 5 - 100, but the other can be worked toward.  The starting point is to keep the 8 and 7 aside to make the final adjustment by 1 from 850; the question then becomes whether it is possible to get to 850 without either of those two numbers.  The answer is yes, and that solution is 849 = (50/5)*75 + 100 - (8 - 7).


Round 7: D L G K E O E D A

I had GELD, GELDED, LEAKED, and GOADED.

Six is the best, and there's a few others: LOADED, LODGED, LEADED, GOALED / GAOLED, EAGLED (in the golf sense), ELODEA (a type of plant), and KEDGED (KEDGE: "to move by being pulled along with the aid of an anchor").


Round 8: Target 187 from 75 25 50 2 3 4

Although it was a little tempting to look at twice or four times the target, better sense reasserted itself and I observed that the offset of 12 was probably more profitable than the offset of 13.  That led me to the solution 187 = 2*50 + 75 + 3*4, and there's a few variations on this idea as well as plenty of tweaking territory.


Round 9: INMATE DUG

I lost a lot of time on the -ING ending, but MUDEATING was not plausible.  It felt like it should have been findable, but in the end I gave up without having found MAGNITUDE.