NG 51

New game 51 is up.


Round 1: H N A R E E E F S

Too many E's for comfort here.  I had NEAR, SHARE, wondered about SHEENER (it turns out that it would be valid under the single-syllable adjective rule, as SHEEN has an archaic adjective sense meaning either "shining" or "beautiful"), and then found the safer FRESHEN also for seven.

The other seven here is SHEREEF (variant spelling of SHERIF: "a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed through his daughter Fatima").  The sixes are SERENE, AFRESH, HEARSE / HAERES (variant spelling of HERES, one meaning of HEIR: "Law someone who succeeds by descent, the term applying to the heirs of heirs comprehended in infinitum"), and RANEES (RANEE being a variant spelling of RANI: "the wife of a rajah, king, or prince").

My selection: FRESHEN


Round 2: R S U G A O Y U C

I had RUGS, SUGAR, SUGARY, and COUGARS.

The other seven is RAUCOUS.  The other sixes are COUGAR, AUGURS (AUGUR: "any soothsayer; prophet"), AUGURY ("the art or practice of an augur; divination"), ARGOSY ("a large merchant ship, especially one with a rich cargo"), AUROUS ("of or containing gold"), and GUACOS (GUACO being a type of climbing plant).

My selection: COUGARS


Round 3: Target 653 from 25 50 100 75 4 1

Getting to 650 is clearly going to be possible, and I tweaked my way to one off with 654 = 4*(100 + 75 + 1) - 50 (although in retrospect 654 = 25*(100 - 75 + 1) + 4 seems easier).

I was not able to better that, and computer searching shows that the target is unreachable so one off is the best to be done.  There's quite a few ways to 654, but only a couple of ways to get 652, if anyone wants to try for that target.

My selection: 654 = 4*(100 + 75 + 1) - 50


Round 4: R D A E T L E U D

I had READ, TREAD, TREADLE / RELATED / ALTERED, and TREADLED.

TREADLED is the only eight; the other sevens are REDATED, DELATED (DELATE: "to inform against; denounce or accuse"), DELUDER, and DETRUDE ("to thrust out or away").

My selection: TREADLED


Round 5: N L A E R R M E O

I had LEAN, LEARN, and LEARNER.

The other sevens are ALMONER ("a social worked with some medical training attached to a hospital") and RELEARN.

My selection: LEARNER


Round 6: Target 669 from 50 100 7 10 1 5

Getting to 650 is easy enough, but I took a different tack from 700 and remembered to divide by 10 to get a solution: 669 = 7*(100 - 5) + 50/10 - 1.  Then I considered trying to make this as 670 - 1, which was attractive because of the presence of 1, 10, and 7.  A little experimention brought another solution to light: 669 = (50 + 7)*10 + 100 - 1.

My selection: 669 = 7*(100 - 5) + 50/10 - 1


Round 7: T D E O I P A A N

I had DOTE, DEPOT, wondered about PATIOED (it's not valid, but I should have seen the valid anagram of OPIATED), ADAPTION, PAINTED, and ANTIPODE ("the direct or exact opposite").

Those are the only eights; the other sevens are POINTED, NOTEPAD, and PATINAE (plural of PATINA: "a broad, shallow dish used by the ancient Romans").

My selection: ADAPTION


Round 8: Target 740 from 25 50 100 1 6 7

I tweaked my way upward from 700 and it worked out rather conveniently to give 740 = 7*(100 + 6) - 50/25.  There's a couple of other solutions, but that seems the clearest.

My selection: 740 = 7*(100 + 6) - 50/25


Round 9: CLEAN DECK

I could not make anything from this (in fact, it was generated in different form for me and I went with the unconvincing guess of DECKCLEAN once it became clear that time was going to run out; that is not valid, unsurprisingly).  The answer is NECKLACED, which has an unexpectedly nasty meaning (NECKLACE as a verb: "(in South Africa) to put (a person) to death by means of a burning car tire around the neck").  That's somewhat more obscure than I am entirely comfortable with, but I figured it was approachable from a more expected meaning of NECKLACE.

My selection: [no answer]


A bit of a shame about the conundrum; I had an optimal game aside from that.  Oh, well.