NG 49

New game 49 is now up.


Round 1: J U N E N D A S O

I had NUDE, SOUND, wondered about DUNJONS but realised I was thinking of DONJONS (DONJON: "the inner tower, keep, or stronghold of a castle"), and ANODES.  I also wondered about ADENOUS (sometimes listed as a synonym of ADENOSE, meaning "like a gland"), but I know I've looked that up before and the Macquarie does not have either form.

After time I saw DUENNAS (DUENNA: "(in Spain and Portugal) an older woman serving as escort or protector of a young woman") for seven.

That is the only seven.  The other sixes are DUENNA, DONNAS (DONNA: "a woman"), SUNNED, UNDONE, UNDOES, and SUNDAE.

My selection: ANODES


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

I had SEEN, SHEEN, RANCHES, CAREENS, ENHANCES, and wondered about ENHANCERS.  I decided to risk it, and that turned out to be the right decision; that's the first possible full monty since SARTORIUS in NG 39.

The other eight (not surprisingly) is ENHANCER.  The other sevens are ENHANCE, ENCHASE ("to place (gems) in an ornamental setting") / ACHENES (ACHENE: "a small, dry, hard, hard, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit"), REACHES, SCANNER / CANNERS, ENSNARE, and CASERNE (variant form of CASERN: "a lodging for soldiers in a garrison town; a barrack").

My selection: ENHANCERS


Round 3: Target 475 from 25 75 2 5 1 10

Multiples of 25 rarely prove too troublesome, and I quickly wrote down three variants of the idea: 475 = (10 + 5 + 1)*25 + 75, 475 = (2*10 - 1)*25, and 475 = 5*75 + (10/2 - 1)*25.  Then I considered making it as 10*47 + 5 to get 475 = (75 - 25 - 2 - 1)*10 + 5; I could have saved a number by making it as 10*48 - 5 instead, but I only noticed that now.  Finally, I exploited the factor of 5 to get 475 = 5*(75 + 25 - 10/2).

My selection: 475 = (2*10 - 1)*25


Round 4: R B U A I S L E F

I had BAILS, BURIALS, and then FAILURES (which is another recent appearer).

That seems to be the only eight; for a while I thought that BARFLIES was another, but the Macquarie insists on BAR FLY being two words (and does not list the plural form beside).

The other sevens are FAILURE, REFUSAL / EARFULS, BAILERS (BAILER: "Cricket a ball which strikes or removes the bails without disturbing the stumps"), FABLERS, FRIABLE ("easily crumbled or reduced to powder"), FUSIBLE ("capable of being fused or melted"), FIBULAS (one plural form of FIBULA, one of the bones of the leg), FIBULAE (the other acceptable plural form), and FIBULAR (the associated adjective).

My selection: FAILURES


Round 5: K O S A M T H U B

I had SOAK, MASK, ATOMS, MOUTHS, wondered about SUBATOM but correctly remembered that I had looked for it before and it is not valid (as I mentioned in episode 427), and MAHOUTS (as I mentioned recently in NG 47, a MAHOUT is "(in India and South-East Asia) the keeper and driver of an elephant").

There's a few other sixes, with THUMBS and AMBUSH being the most common.

My selection: MAHOUTS


Round 6: Target 737 from 50 75 100 25 8 10

With the standard method the offsets are 12 and 13.  As a general rule 12 is more manageable than 13, but 750 was more obviously reachable and I wrote down a fallback one away 738 = 10*75 - 8 - 100/25.  I was a bit stuck there for a while, but just in time spotted another option and got down a solution of 737 = 8*100 - 75 + 10 + 50/25.

My selection: 737 = 8*100 - 75 + 10 + 50/25


Round 7: O M G I R N I O D

The -ING popped up early and is always worth a look.  I had GRIM, MIRING, ORIGIN, and DOOMING.  I also noted the presence of DIGIMON and MIDGROIN, but was confident neither was valid.

The other sevens are ROOMING / MOORING.  The golf club MID-IRON is only listed with the hyphen, so is not another option.

My selection: DOOMING


Round 8: Target 192 from 75 100 25 50 4 3

The target is 3*64, so there were a few provocative factors but instead I tweaked my way to a solution from 200 with 192 = 4*(50 - 3) + 100/5.  Taking another approach to the 200 let me avoid the tweak with 192 = 3*75 - 25 - 4*100/50.

After time I was able to use the factor of 4 after all, finding the solution 192 = 4*(50 - 3 + (100 - 75)/25).

My selection: 192 = 4*(50 - 3) + 100/25


Round 9: HIPS KNEES

I was distracted for a while by the possible -NESS ending, but eventually found my way to SHEEPSKIN after 19.9s.