NG 46

New game 46 is up.


Round 1: S M H U E K N E O

I had HUMS / MUSH, MENUS, SMOKE, wondered about SHOEMEN (not valid), and then remembered David once finding HOUSEMEN (in episode 5, it turns out; it is the plural of HOUSEMAN: "British a male member of the medical staff of a hospital, commonly a recent medical graduate acting as assistant to a physician or surgeon").

I remember watching The Monkees growing up, but it was a safe bet that it would require a capital letter if it was even listed (it is not).

HOUSEMEN is the only eight, and there are no sevens.  The sixes are ENMESH, NEUMES (NEUME: "any of various symbols used in medieval musical notation, and still used for noting Gregorian chant, etc."), and probably HOKUMS (HOKUM: "sentimental or pathetic matter of an elementary or stereotyped kind introduced into a play or the like").


Round 2: N A R E C S B E A

I had NEAR, CRANE, CRANES, and CAREENS.  A frustrating mix, as it felt like longer should have been possible but I could not see it.  Still, just as well one of those E's was not an I as the Macquarie (to my surprise) does not list BRAINCASE.  (On the other hand, if both E's were I's then BRAINIACS would have been fine.)

There is an eight after all: CESAREAN (variant spelling of CAESARIAN, acceptable in lowercase as a term for a caesarian section).  The other sevens are ABSENCE and CASERNE (variant spelling of CASERN: "a lodging for soldiers in a garrison town; a barrack").


Round 3: Target 651 from 50 10 7 8 3 6

The standard method works handily to give a solution of 651 = (7 + 6)*50 + 8 + 3 - 10.  I had noted the factor of 3, and the cofactor of 217 was clearly 7*31, so I spent the remaining time (and then some) trying to find a solution as 3*7*31.  I was not able to, but later checking showed that this was possible: 651 = (50/(10 - 8) + 6)*7*3.


Round 4: A O D L E T C O T

I had LOAD, LOCATED, a slightly uncertain TOTALED (true to form, the Macquarie does list this American spelling), and TOOTLED.

Seven is the limit -- the grape variety DOLCETTO is not listed -- with the others being CLOTTED and CALOTTE ("a plain skullcap, as that worn by Roman Catholic ecclesiastics").


Round 5: G O A S T U E F F

I had SAGO, GOATS, and OUTAGES.  For a moment I had thought that the G was a C and SUFFOCATE was there, but it was not to be.  After time I noted FUGATOS (FUGATO: "music in [fugato] style", where FUGATO as an adjective means "in fugue style, but not according to strict rules") as another seven.

Those are the only sevens, but there is an eight: OFFSTAGE.


Round 6: Target 943 from 100 25 75 7 8 1

The standard method must be tempting here, with the 7 providing the offset from 950 and a tweaking option with the 1.  I missed that tweaking option at first and instead found the solution 943 = (8 + 1)*100 + 75 - 25 - 7, but just now have seen the alternative 943 = 7*(100 + 25 - 1) + 75.


Round 7: C M E B D I I D N

I had MEDIC and MINDED.  I also amused myself by inventing ICEBIND as a present form of ICEBOUND, but never seriously considered it.

Six looks like the best to be done; the others are MINCED, MIDDEN, BIDDEN, and IBIDEM (more usually seen in its abbreviated form ibid.: "in the same book, chapter, page, etc.").


Round 8: Target 406 from 50 25 100 75 5 1

I quickly wrote down a fallback one-away 405 = 5*(75 + 1) + 25, and then searched for better.  By considering the target as 405 + 1 = 5*81 + 1 I was fortunate enough to stumble upon one of the few solutions: 406 = 5*(75 + (100 + 50)/25) + 1.


Round 9: PEKOE HUES

I was perhaps aided by the similarity to the first round here, and found HOUSEKEEP after 4.8 seconds.