NG 47

New game 47 is now available.


Round 1: S D L E E G T I A

Promising letters to start with today; I had SLED, LEDGES, DIGEST, LEGATES, rejected GLADIEST (I know that the Scrabble list allows it, but I've looked it up before and it's not valid), DETAILS, and correctly rejected IDEALEST.  After time I noted down some of the other sevens that I had seen: LIGATES, LIGATED, IDEATES, AGISTED, and DILATES.  I also checked up on GELIDATE, but no luck there.

Seven turns out to be the limit, although Scrabble would allow LEDGIEST, LEADIEST, and ÉGALITÉS.  The other sevens are EDGIEST, EAGLETS / TELEGAS (TELEGA: "a crude Russian cart having four wheels and no springs"), DELATES (DELATE: "to inform against; denounce or accuse"), ELEGIST / ELEGITS (ELEGIT: "a writ of execution against a judgement debtor's goods or property held by the judgement creditor until payment of the debt"), and AIGLETS (AIGLET being a variant spelling of AGLET: "a metal tag at the end of a lace").

My selection: LEGATES


Round 2: Y E B I M S U P R

I had SEMI, BUSY, SUPER, ERBIUMS / IMBRUES (IMBRUE: "to wet in or with something that stains, now especially blood; stain with blood"), and then spurred on by American financial shenanigans found SUBPRIME ("US of, relating to, or designating a loan, usually a housing loan, which is risky because the borrower is less than ideal or has an ability to pay which has not been accurately assessed").

That looks like the only eight; the other sevens are UMPIRES, BUMPERS, and BUMPIER.

My selection: SUBPRIME


Round 3: Target 320 from 100 50 75 6 10 7

I did the premultiply bit at the start so had 420 as a speculative intermediate... and then it proved obviously useful and I had 320 = 6*7*10 - 100.  I looked at using the factor of 10 more directly and found another solution of 320 = (75 - 50 + 7)*10.

My selection: 320 = 6*7*10 - 100


Round 4: A C H O M D U T N

I had MACHO, MATCH, MOUTH, reluctantly rejected DUTCHMAN (and correctly so; there's no associated lowercase meaning), and finally found MAHOUT ("(in India and South-East Asia) the keeper and driver of an elephant") for six.  After time I noted TOUCAN as another possible six.

The other sixes are AMOUNT / OUTMAN, and NAUTCH ("(in India) a dance performed by professional female dancers").

But there is a seven here: HANDOUT.  I'd looked at OUT- but not thought to try it at the end.

My selection: MAHOUT


Round 5: C F G A O D M E R

I had CODA, CAGED, FORCED, FORAGED, COMRADE / CAROMED, and CORDAGE ("cords or ropes collectively, especially in a ship's rigging").

Those are all the sevens; some sources would allow DOGFACE (slang for an American infantry soldier) but not the Macquarie.

My selection: FORAGED


Round 6: Target 509 from 50 100 9 2 6 8

The handy 9 makes the standard method the clear option to take.  I wrote down three variants in quick succession: 509 = 6*100 - 2*50 + 9, 509 = 50*(8 + 2) + 9, and 509 = 8*50 + 100 + 9.

My selection: 509 = 8*50 + 100 + 9


Round 7: T H P E A O B T O

Less promising letters, with P, H, and B not the best together and duplication in the rest.  I had HEAT, THETA, PHOTO, BOOTH (I was amused by those two taken as a pair), and POTATO.

The other sixes are TEAPOT and HOTPOT (thanks to Victor for spotting this latter, which was not in the word list I use).

My selection: POTATO


Round 8: Target 119 from 100 75 5 5 1 4

A disappointingly low target for this final numbers round.  I started with 119 = 100 + 5*4 - 1, then moved to 119 = 75 + 4*(5 + 5 + 1).  With plenty of time left I wrote down two other options: 119 = 5*(100 - 75) - 5 - 1 and 119 = 4*(100 - 75 + 5) - 1.

All of these made the target as 120 - 1.  A different option (just noticed now) is 119 = 100 + 75/5 + 4.

My selection: 119 = 100 + 5*4 - 1


Round 9: READ MAKER

I got a bit lost on this one, as it turns out.  But around the fourth or fifth time I circled back to REMARKED I finally spotted EARMARKED as the answer... but at 38.1s it was a touch too late.

My selection: [out of time]