Friday 1 February 2013

NG 55

New game 55 is up (as is the writeup for new game 54).


Round 1: L O B R A D E H R

I had ORAL, LABOR, BROAD, BOARDER / BROADER, and LABORED.  I wish that E had been another A as then I could have had LARBOARD (an obsolete nautical term for port (i.e., left)) as a moderately unusual eight.

There are two eights here, though: ABHORRED / HARBORED.

The other sevens are LABORER, HOARDER, and HALBERD.

My selection: BROADER


Round 2: W C O O S M U N S

I had COWS, COOS, MOONS, and COSMOS.

The other six is SWOONS.

My selection: COSMOS


Round 3: Target 446 from 9 3 4 9 7 1

Getting close with 9*50 seems clear, but it's not so easy to use to get really close.  9*7*7 is five away with 441, and a tweak from that got me two away with 448 = (9*7 + 1)*(4 + 3).

After time I found another way to get to make the 49 instead of 7*7, and that improved things to one away with 445 = 9*(3*(9 + 7) + 1) + 4.  (In retrospect, 9*7*(9 + 1 - 3) + would have been simpler.)

It turns out that one away is the best possible in this round.  There's a fair few ways as it turns out, one of which finds an option to 9*50 that is better than 9*(7*(4 + 3) + 1).  It leads to 447 = (9*(7 - 1) - 4)*9 - 3.

My selection: 448 = (9*7 + 1)*(4 + 3)


Round 4: N S I S T E U S I

I got distracted by the -INESS option at one point, but that did not get me very far.  I had SINS, STEINS, UNITES, TISSUES, INSISTS, and SUNSETS.  After time I noted the possibility of UNITISES, although I had to look it up to be sure it was valid (UNITISE: "to make into one unit").

An A instead of the U would have been nice, allowing SANITISES for nine.  Oh, well.

UNITISES is the only eight.  The other sevens are UNITISE / UNITIES, SINUSES, SITUSES ("position; situation"), and SEISINS ("Law (in feudal English land law) possession of a freehold estate").

My selection: TISSUES


Round 5: T E A U C T E G M

I had ACUTE, MUTATE, and GAMETE.

Six is the best possible; the others are CATGUT, ACETUM ("a pharmaceutical preparation made with vinegar or dilute acetic acid as the solvent"), and GUTTAE (plural of GUTTA: "a drop, or something resembling one").

My selection: MUTATE


Round 6: Target 865 from 25 75 8 5 1 9

I first focussed on the nearby multiples of 100, and the adjustment from 900 turned out to be straightfoward: 865 = 9*(75 + 25) - 5*(8 - 1).

My selection: 865 = 9*(75 + 25) - 5*(8 - 1)


Round 7: N E G B A I P T O

I had BEGAN, TAPING, OBTAIN, NIOBATE, and BEATING.

The other sevens are BOATING and BEGONIA.

My selection: NIOBATE


Round 8: Target 760 from 100 50 5 8 1 4

76 is 4*19, so I started with 760 = (100 + 50 + 8*5)*4.  Then I used the factor of 5 to get 760 = (100 + 50 + /4)*5, the factor of 20 for 760 = (100/5)*(50 - 8 - 4), and finally the factor of 8 for 760 = 8*(100 - 5).

My selection: 760 = 8*(100 - 5)


Round 9: IT IS QUEER

Not much to say about this; I happened to find REQUISITE after 2.0 seconds.

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Almost got the conundrum in time and did better generally today than yesterday.

ROARED
SWOONS
x got nowhere even after a few minutes
INSIST
GAMUT
8*(25+75+9)-(5+1)=866 (1 off)
BEATING
8*100-50+5+1+4=760
REQUISITE (31.5s - should have got it quicker)

Victor said...

My results:

1. BOARDER (valid but felt risky - only saw the safe BROADER after time)
2. COSMOS
3. 3-away: 449 = (4 + 3)*7*9 + 9 - 1
4. INSISTS
5. MUTATE
6. 865 = 9*(75 + 25) - 5*(8 - 1)
7. BEATING
8. 760 = 8*(100 - 5)
9. REQUISITE - 4.4s

Happy with my conundrum solve, I sometimes struggle in similar mixes because I get lost looking for SQU- or EQU- words.

Jan said...

Victor and Mike, you were both way quicker than me with the conundrum. Well done.

BOARDER (I didn't think this was risky - but Geoff might tell us otherwise!)
COSMOS
(9*4 + 9)*(9+1) - 1 = 449. 3 away
UNITIES, TISSUES
MUTATE
(75+25+9-1)*8 = 864. 1 away
BOATING
8*100 - 50 + (4+1+5) = 760
REQUISITE 124.4 secs

Geoff Bailey said...

BOARDER is fine, but certainly going with BROADER instead gets rid of any concerns. Nice work finding SWOONS, Mike -- it's the only six aside from COSMOS.

Sorry to be a spoilsport, Jan, but you used a 9 three times in that first numbers round.

Strong results from you, Victor -- well done.

Jan said...

Bummer! The 9+1 should have read 7+3. I did lots of rearranging in working out things. Sorry

Sam Gaffney said...

1. HARBORED
2. SNOWS
3. 2-away: 448 = (9-1)*(9-4+3)*7
4. SINUSES
5. MUTATE
6. 1-away: 864 = 9*(75+25 -5 +1). Afterwards: (75+25+9*8+1)*5
7. BEATING
8. 760 = 8*(100 - 5)
9. REQUISITE - 12.2s