NG 54

New game 54 is up.


Round 1: T T R P U A U E U

We start with an annoying trio of U's -- that might be all of them, come to think of it.  Staying with four vowels would have improved things with the incoming N allowing PATTERN for seven.  As it was, I had PUTT, TRAP, ERUPT, PATTER, and PUTTER.  After time I noted another six of AUTEUR ("of or relating to a type of film where the director is also largely the author"; it can also be used for the director of such films).

The other six on offer is TAUTER; some sources would allow UPRATE but neither it nor DOWNRATE have made it into the Macquarie yet.

My selection: PATTER


Round 2: N I T N I S P I N

Even more duplication this round!  A trio of I's and N's, and yet another T... so it's going to be one of those games.  I had TINS and PINTS.

Not very surprisingly, five is the best; the other one is TIPIS (TIPI being a variant spelling of TEEPEE).

My selection: PINTS


Round 3: Target 893 from 25 75 50 100 3 4

A high target for the four large mix, and the offset of seven feels difficult.  I channelled my inner Sam for a one-away 892 = (3*75*100 - 4*50)/25 and then got to one away from the other side with 894 = 3*4*75 - (100 + 50)/25.

This one does turn out to be solvable, although both solutions are difficult.  The first comes from the factorisation 19*47: 893 = ((4*100 + 75)/25)*(50 - 3).  The other is, well, hard to imagine ever spotting: 893 = (25*100 + 50 + 4)/3 + 75.

My selection: 892 = (3*75*100 - 4*50)/25 [one off]


Round 4: C A W I E C S N D

I rejected WICCA (correctly expecting it to be capitalised), then had CASE and CANDIES.  After time I wrote down an uncertain INCASED; that is valid (with INCASE being a variant spelling of ENCASE), but annoyingly it does not have a separate entry so one has to look under ENCASE to find it.

With WICCANS requiring a capital letter, the only other seven is SCANDIC ("of or relating to scandium").

My selection: CANDIES


Round 5: T G F I A A O N E

I had GAIT, TAIGA ("the coniferous, evergreen forests of sub-arctic lands, covering vast areas of northern North America and Eurasia"), and the variant spelling FAGOT.  That was all I could get, despite the -ING option; I correctly rejected OATING and FEATING along the way.

There were some sixes to be had, including a few -ING words.  The one I should have seen was EATING (!), and the other sixes are FETING (well found by Jan), TOEING, FATING, AGNATE (which I've mentioned a couple of times before: "a kinsman whose connection is traceable exclusively through males"), and TAENIA ("Architecture the fillet or band on the Doric architrave, which separates it from the frieze").

My selection: TAIGA


Round 6: Target 753 from 25 50 4 6 1 2

My first attempt to get to 750 worked out nicely, and I soon had the solution 753 = (50 + 25)*(6 + 4) + 2 + 1.  A minor variation on the same idea also worked: 753 = 50*(25 - 6 - 4) + 2 + 1.

My selection: 753 = (50 + 25)*(6 + 4) + 2 + 1


Round 7: C S L S O I O R C

A lot of duplication again; I had LOSS, COILS, and then was pleased to spot SIROCCO ("any hot, oppressive wind, especially one in the warm sector of a cyclone") and thus SIROCCOS lurking there for eight.  This was the round that redeemed the game for me.

SIROCCOS is the only eight; the other seven is COLOSSI (one plural form of COLOSSUS: "a thing or person of great size or importance").  The sixes are COLICS, COLORS, and CISCOS (one plural form of CISCO, a type of whitefish).

My selection: SIROCCOS


Round 8: Target 958 from 75 100 5 4 8 3

I wanted to make this as 950 + 8, but I just couldn't get there.  I tweaked my way to a fallback two-away 956 = (5 + 4)*(100 - 3) + 75 + 8, and then the much simpler two-away of 960 = 3*4*(75 + 5).

After time I finally saw that working up from 800 would get me there: 958 = 8*100 + (5 - 3)*(75 + 4).

There's one other solution, which was the one I had been aiming for but not been able to find: 958 = (5 - 3)*(4*100 + 75) + 8.  Bother.

My selection: 960 = 3*4*(75 + 5)


Round 9: GETS SOILS

I got a bit distracted by thoughts of GEOLOGISTS, and the -LESS fragment, but at the 8.5 second mark I managed to unravel GLOSSIEST from it.

My selection: GLOSSIEST (8.5s)