NG 45

New game 45 is up.


Round 1: A F S I N T E E N

I got a bit distracted by the non-presence of FASCINATE here.  Instead I had FAIN, FAINTS, FANNIES, INFANTS, and NEATENS.  After time I noted FAINEST as another seven, and then recalled that INFANTE was valid ("a son of the king of Spain or of Portugal, not heir to the throne") and thus INFANTES was an eight from this mix.  (I thought this had been mentioned on the show, but I can't find it by searching here, so possibly not.)

That is the only eight.  The other sevens are INTENSE and ETESIAN ("recurring annually (applied to certain Mediterranean winds)").


Round 2: F S U D R O I L O

A shame that last vowel was not an E as that would have allowed FLUORIDES for nine.  I had SURD, FOURS, FLOURS, FLORID, DROOLS, and DOLOURS (DOLOUR: "sorrow or grief").  After time I noted a couple of other sixes in the form of ODOURS and FLOORS.

DOLOURS seems to be the only seven.  Some sources would allow FOLIOUS, but the Macquarie only has it as a suffix (meaning "leafy").  It is also missing the musical direction FURIOSO.


Round 3: Target 668 from 50 75 5 3 8 10

My first thought was to get to 675 and subtract 7, but making either of those was a little difficult.  Fortunately the adjustment from 600 was easy enough and I ended up with the solution 668 = 8*75 + 50 + 10 + 5 + 3.

Just now I considered descending from 750, which led to the solution 668 = 10*(75 - 8) - (5 - 3).  Then I realised that this was the solution that Mike had mentioned in comments, so it was not a new discovery on my part. *chuckles*


Round 4: P N I I D N S U T

Awkward vowels for such a mix; I had PINS, STUPID, UNPINS, and NUDIST.  I wondered about PINSTUD -- and the somewhat more far-fetched try of DUSTPIN -- but correctly rejected them.

There is a seven here, though -- ably found by Jan and Victor -- of PUNDITS.  Well done!

The other sixes are PUNDIT and INPUTS.


Round 5: W E O P D E S L I

I had DOPE, EPODE ("a kind of lyric poem [...]"), WEEPS, SLOPED, DISPEL, EPISODE, and DESPOIL / SPOILED.  After time I checked up on OILWEEDS but was not surprised that it was not valid.  I did encounter another seven of OILSEED while doing so, though.

Seven is the limit; the others are SPIELED (SPIEL: "to talk plausibly; deliver a patter or sales talk") and DIPOLES (DIPOLE: "a pair of equal and opposite electric charges or magnetic poles, forces, etc.") / DIPLOES (DIPLOE: "(in anatomy) the cancellate bony tissue between the hard inner and outer walls of the bones of the cranium").


Round 6: Target 626 from 50 8 9 5 7 4

The target is just 1 away from the square of 25, but with only one large number the question is whether to try to get to the target from above or below.  I spent a little while trying to do so from 650, as the offset of 24 is generally more manageable, but could not make that work.  I switched tacks to consider 630 - 4 and soon had a solution of 626 = (50/5)*9*7 - 4.  Then it occurred to me to look at working up from 600 and I found another solution of 626 = (8 + 4)*50 + 7*5 - 9.


Round 7: C E T H M I C A C

This had a lot more potential until those C's turned up; I was thinking that CHEMIST or even ALCHEMIST might make an appearance.  Instead I had ETCH, ETHIC, MATCH, CATCH, and -- a bit later in the piece than I would have liked, given that I have mentioned it several times in the blog already -- HEMATIC (variant spelling of HAEMATIC: "acting on the blood, as a medicine").

That seems to be the only seven -- some sources give MACCHIE as a variant spelling of the shrubland MAQUIS but that does not seem to be a widespread use, certainly not enough for the Macquarie -- and the sixes are CACHET, HECTIC, ACETIC, CHEMIC (an archaic form of "alchemic" or "chemical" as an adjective), and HAEMIC (variant form of HAEMATIC as an adjective).


Round 8: Target 730 from 50 100 25 2 6 10

My first attempt was a little roundabout: 730 = 6*(100 + 25) - 2*10.  Then I pulled out the factor of 10 for the simpler 730 = (50 + 25 - 2)*10.


Round 9: FREER ROMP

Plenty of affixes to pull out, but I perhaps erred by looking too long at PRE-.  It took me 7.3 seconds to get to PERFORMER.