NG 44

New game 44 is up.


Round 1: O G O Y S I L R U

I wondered about GOOS (I'm still not sure if GOO is pluralisable, but while attempting to look that up I was surprised to see that the origin is a shortening of BURGOO: "a thick oatmeal gruel, especially as eaten by sailors"), was also uncertain about GOOSY ("having goosebumps"), OILY, and then had just noted that a final U would allow GLORIOUS and then it turned up.  I added SOURLY as a six that I'd overlooked.

GLORIOUS is the only eight.  The sevens are GIROSOL (variant spelling of GIRASOL, a variert of opal) and UROLOGY.  The other sixes are ROSILY, GORILY, GRISLY, IGLOOS, and GUIROS (GUIRO: "a percussion instrument consisting of a dried empty gourd, which has parallel notches across which a stick is drawn").


Round 2: T R O E G N M A S

I had ROTE, ERGOT (a type of fungus), GONER, MENTOR, MAGNETO, MAGNETOS / MONTAGES / MEGATONS, and ANGSTROM ("a unit of length [...] equal to 10^-10 metres").

After time I found other eights of ESTRAGON (another name for tarragon), STOREMAN, MEGARONS (MEGARON: "the main hall of an ancient Mycenaean house [...]"), and RAGSTONE (also RAG: "hard, coarse or rough stone").

There does not seem to be a nine; the other eights are GARMENTS, NEGATORS, and ONSTREAM ("operational").  The plant genus MONSTERA is only listed in the entry MONSTERA DELICIOSA, so is not valid.


Round 3: Target 295 from 25 50 10 5 6 3

A somewhat boring target; I found 295 = 6*50 - 5 and left it at that.


Round 4: T R E A S M H E E

I had RATE, RATES, MASTER, and HAMSTER.  I noted that changing the A to an O would allow THREESOME, but was not able to better HAMSTER.

In fact, seven seems to be the limit; the others are HEATERS / REHEATS / possibly AETHERS, STEAMER, TEEMERS, and THERMAE ("hot springs; hot baths").


Round 5: T O D P B U D U N

Ergh, a rather unhelpful mix.  I had DOUBT and BOUND, rejecting OUTBUD, UNDOUBT, and UPBOUND along the way.  UPBOUND turns out to be legal in Scrabble, but the Macquarie does not list it.

The six here is OBTUND: "to blunt; dull; deaden".  The other fives are POUND and DONUT.


Round 6: Target 370 from 50 25 100 4 4 2

Getting to 400 as a first approximation seemed like a good step, and I found a working tweak from that point: 370 = 4*(100 - 4*2) + 50/25.  There's some variations on this idea that also work.


Round 7: N A A M F I W S I

I had MANA ("Anthropology impersonal, supernatural force which may be concentrated in objects or persons"; it's a fairly standard term for magical energy in role-playing games -- particularly computer ones -- and its widespread use may be due to Larry Niven's works and in particular The Magic Goes Away), MANIA, MANIAS, ANIMAS (ANIMA: "soul; life"), and SIMIAN.

The other six here is MAFIAS.


Round 8: Target 967 from 25 100 50 75 1 4

Oh, dear, a 1 in the four large mix is rarely a good sign.  Those who have studied the four-large numbers (i.e., Sam) will know that 975 can be made with that 1, so 971 is possible.  It took me a little while to find it: 971 = ((25 + 1)/(100/50))*75 - 4.  I was not able to get any closer to the target within time.

After time I considered multiplying the target by 3 to get 2901/3.  That seemed provocative; if only we could turn that 50 into a second 25 it would have given a solution of 967 = ((25 + 4)*100 + 1)/(75/25).  That's not valid, of course, but it did lead me to consider multiplying by 4 to get 3868/4.  Some playing around with that got me to a two-away 969 = (50*75 + 100 + 25 + 1)/4.

That is the best that can be done, as it turns out.  There's only one other way to get there: 969 = ((4*100 + 75)/25)*(50 + 1).


Round 9: DESERT FLU

I don't have a proper time to report for this, as my conundrum generator actually produced FLUSTERER.  I found that in 4.0 seconds, but it's not in the Macquarie.  Rather than keep searching, I adjusted it to FLUSTERED.