Tuesday 22 January 2013

NG 48

New game 48 is now available.


Round 1: M E G E T W R T O

We start out with some duplication, a trend that will continue throughout the night.  I had MEET, MERGE, WETTER, and METEOR / REMOTE.

Six is the limit; the others are GETTER and GEMOTE (variant spelling of GEMOT: "a meeting or an assembly in Anglo-Saxon England, as for judicial or legislative purposes").

My selection: METEOR


Round 2: N I R N E A D N O

I had NINE, INNER, RAINED, and ANDIRON ("one of a pair of metallic stands used to support wood in an open fire").

The other seven here is one I've mentioned serveral times before, although I did not see it this time: ANEROID ("using no fluid", and also a type of barometer).

My selection: ANDIRON


Round 3: Target 843 from 50 75 2 5 3 7

My first thought was noticing that the target is 840 + 3, where 840 = 7*120.  The result was the solution 843 = 7*(75 + 50 - 5) + 3.  Then I looked at the standard method and realised that 7 from 850 is probably a more tempting option.  That said, it took me a while to find a method for 850, and I ended up with the awkward 843 = 2*(5*75 + 50) - 7.

Just now I saw another option which feels more natural: 843 = (75/5 + 2)*50 - 7.

My selection: 843 = 7*(75 + 50 - 5) + 3


Round 4: K E E C T E B S O

I had BECK (an old term for a brook) and SOCKET.  I wondered about BECKET (and thus BECKETS), but had not heard of it.

Later checking confirmed the validity of BECKET ("a fitting on a pulley block for securing a rope") and thus BECKETS is the seven here.  It seems to be the only one; the other sixes are BOSKET ("a grove; a thicket"; it can also be spelled BOSQUET) and KETOSE ("any of the sugars which have a ketone group or its equivalent").

My selection: SOCKET


Round 5: A R O R H S I S L

I had ROAR, ROARS, ORRIS (a type of plant), and SAILORS.  It seems like that has turned up a few times recently.

The other seven is SIRRAHS (SIRRAH: "Archaic (a term of address used to inferiors in impatience, contempt, etc.)".  I'm not sure why this qualifies as a noun instead of an interjection like ALOHA, but there it is.

The sixes are SAILOR, SIRRAH, SHOALS, ASSOIL ("to absolve; acquit; pardon"), and SHIRRS (SHIRR: "to draw up or gather (cloth) on parallel threads").

My selection: SAILORS


Round 6: Target 395 from 25 75 100 6 10 2

I started by trying to get to 400, and observed that the difference of 5 could be made from the 10 and 2.  It turned out that the 6 was good enough and the resulting solution was 395 = 6*(75 - 25) + 100 - 10/2.  Then I looked at getting there from 450 and found that could be made to work: 395 = 6*75 - (100 + 10)/2.  My final consideration was to try and make it as 320 + 75, and that worked out nicely also: 395 = (100/25)*(6 + 2)*10 + 75.

My selection: 395 = 6*75 - (100 + 10)/2


Round 7: J U H O T E R M O

I had OTHER, MOTHER, and wondered about MOUTHER but correctly rejected it.

Six seems to be the limit again; the others are HOOTER and MOOTER (MOOT: "to bring forward (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion").

My selection: MOTHER


Round 8: Target 458 from 100 50 75 7 2 1

Oh, dear, I had an issue here.  Obviously it would be nice to keep the 7 and 1 aside and make 450 from the rest, but somehow I erred.  I wrote down a fallback one-away 457 = (2 + 1)*(100 + 50) + 7, and then one away in the other direction with 459 = (7 + 2)*(50 + 1), but that was it.

After time I saw that the original aim worked after all with 458 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) + 7 + 1.  What makes this particularly annoying is that I had considered precisely this formula within time, but somehow miscalculated it as not reaching the target.  Grrr.

There's exactly one other solution, the rather unlikely 458 = (7*(100 - 2) + 1)*50/75.

My selection: 457 = (2 + 1)*(100 + 50) + 7


Round 9: PRONE POUT

I got a bit distracted by the OUT- fragment, but ended up finding OPPORTUNE at the 13.1s mark.

My selection: OPPORTUNE (13.1s)


A difficult game this week, with it being hard to do better than six in the letters rounds as a result of considerable duplication.

5 comments:

Jan said...

And tough letters tonight! I could only get sixes. it seemed that there should be better words with some of the mixes, but I could not find them

WETTER
DINNER
(7+3)*75 + 2*50 - 5 = 845. 2 off
SOCKET
SHOALS
(10-6)*100 - (75/25 + 2) = 395
MOTHER
(50+1)*7 + 100 = 457. 1 off
OPPORTUNE - 19.0 secs

Thanks Geoff

Mike Backhouse said...

I had no luck on the numbers even after time.

WETTER
IRONED
(5+7)*75-50-(3*2)=844 (1 off)
SOCKET
RARISH
(6-2)*100-75/25=397 (2 off)
HOOTER
3*(100+50)+7=457
x- good work Jan

Victor said...

Bad luck on the numbers guys. I had a fairly good game today - even managed a seven in one round.

1. WETTER
2. ANEROID
3. 843 = (5*75 + 50)*2 - 7
4. SOCKET
5. SHOALS
6. 395 = 6*(75 - 25) + 100 - 10/2
7. MOTHER
8. 458 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) + 7 + 1
9. OPPORTUNE - 2.2s

Sam Gaffney said...

1. WETTER
2. ANEROID
3. 843 = (75/5 + 2)*50 - 7
4. SOCKET
5. SAILORS
6. 395 = (6-2)*100 - (75-25)/10
7. MOTHER
8. 458 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) + 7 + 1
9. OPPORTUNE - 34.0s

Geoff Bailey said...

I'm running well behind on the blog posts as a result of some network issues at home (on the plus side, I did clean up one room considerably while looking for my ISP's login details). Here's my results:

1. METEOR
2. ANDIRON
3. 843 = 7*(75 + 50 - 5) + 3
4. SOCKET
5. SAILORS
6. 395 = 6*75 - (100 + 10)/2
7. MOTHER
8. 457 = (2 + 1)*(100 + 50) + 7 [1 off]
9. 13.1s - OPPORTUNE

I saw the solution 458 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) + 7 + 1 just a bit after time. The really annoying thing is that I had considered exactly that approach but miscalculated and rejected it.

Good results from all of you on what was a tough night for the letters. (There is one better option available in one of the rounds, but I'll save that so there's something to look forward to in the blog post). I particularly like ANEROID for round 2 -- well done! -- and Victor takes the honours in the conundrum.