New game 60 is now available.
Round 1: T I R I T S M O C
Oh, for an E in this mix -- I finally saw the potential for MORTICES, but the vowels did not match. I had STIR, MOIST, and wondered about SOMITIC but that was just wishful thinking. After time I found MICROS, STRICT, SITCOM, and finally TRICOTS for seven (TRICOT: "a warp-knit fabric, usually of rayon, with the right and wrong sides different").
I would have got lucky with SOMITIC, as it turns out -- it is an adjective derived from SOMITE: "any of the longitudinal series of segments or parts into which the body of certain animals is divided".
The other sevens are MITOTIC (adjective derived from MITOTIS: "the usual (indirect) method of cell division [...]"), MIOTICS (MIOTIC as a noun is "a miotic drug", while MIOTIC as an adjective is "relating to, producing, or suffering from miosis"; MIOSIS is "excessive contraction of the pupil of the eye, as the result of disease, drugs, or the like"), and TRISMIC (adjective derived from TRISMUS, another name for lockjaw).
The other sixes are MIOTIC and OTITIS ("inflammation of the ear").
My selection: MOIST
Round 2: O E N D G E O M I
I had DONE, GEODE, and DOOMING (which turned up recently in NG 49).
The other sevens are DEEMING, DEMOING, and GOODMEN (plural of GOODMAN: "(a title of respect formerly used for a man below the rank of gentleman, especially a farmer of yeoman)").
My selection: DOOMING
Round 3: Target 682 from 75 50 5 10 7 6
The standard method says to make this as 675 + 7, and the multiples of 75 make this pretty clear: 682 = (10 + 5 - 6)*75 + 7. An alternative is 682 = (10 + 5)*50 - 75 + 7.
My selection: 682 = (10 + 5 - 6)*75 + 7
Round 4: A I O L D R D O S
The last five letters are rather familiar to some, but that's not immediately useful. I had LOAD, RADIO, RADIOS, and SORDID. After time I noted SAILOR as another six.
Six is the best to be done. The others are DROOLS / DOLORS, DORSAL, DROIDS, DILDOS, ARIOSO ("(a musical direction) in the manner of an air or melody"), AROIDS (AROID being a type of plant), and LAIRDS ("in Scotland, a landed proprietor") / LIDARS (LIDAR: "a device which detects the density of clouds by bouncing laser light off the atmosphere").
My selection: SORDID
Round 5: F I A W I N G S E
I had WAIF, SWING, EASING, and SEWING.
It turns out there is just the one seven here: FANWISE ("in the shape of an open fan").
The other sixes are FEIGNS, WISING, SAWING / WIGANS (WIGAN: "a stiff, canvas-like fabric used for stiffening parts of garments"), and SWINGE ("to whip; punish").
My selection: EASING
Round 6: Target 947 from 100 1 3 8 2 3
I was unsure whether to start with 900 or 1000, and I was going to try (8 + 1)*100 which would have led to one away with 948 = (8 + 1)*(100 + 3 + 2) + 3. But while starting to write that down I spotted that the 9 could be made as 3*3, and for tweaking purposes multiplication is generally better than addition. Fortunately it worked out, and I found the solution 947 = 3*(3*100 + 2*8) - 1.
That turns out to be the only solution.
My selection: 947 = 3*(3*100 + 2*8) - 1
Round 7: B E N N A A H C E
I had BANE, ENHANCE, and the plant HENBANE.
Those are the only sevens; the only six is ACHENE: "a small, dry, hard, one-seeded, indehiscent fruit".
The fives are BEACH, BEECH, BENCH, HENCE, HENNA, HANCE ("Nautical a curved rise to a higher part, as of the bulwarks from the waist to the quarterdeck"), BENNE (a type of sesame), and CANNA (another type of plant).
My selection: ENHANCE
Round 8: Target 793 from 50 5 1 9 3 6
There's an obvious way to make the offset of 7, but what's left cannot get us to 800. I wrote down a fallback one-away 792 = (9 + 6 + 1)*50 - 5 - 3, and nothing else I tried within time got me closer.
Just after time, inevitably, I saw my way clear to a solution: 793 = (5 - 3)*(50 - 6)*9 + 1. This turns out to be the only solution.
My selection: 792 = (9 + 6 + 1)*50 - 5 - 3
Round 9: MIN'S MOMMA
All those M's didn't leave much room, although I almost got distracted by the not-there INSOMNIA. The -ISM fragment was worth a look, as was MIS-, but it was the first that led me to the answer. I thought that it was capitalised (due to MAMMON), but it seemed clear that the answer must be MAMMONISM and I committed to it after 9.6 seconds.
In retrospect, this was a more obscure word than I intended. It means "the greedy pursuit of riches".
6 comments:
1. SITCOM
2. DEEMING
3.682 = (10 + 5 - 6)*75 + 7
4. SORDID
5. SEWING
6. 947 = (3*100 + 2*8)*3 - 1
7. ENHANCE
8. 1-away: 794 = (9 + 5 + 3 - 1)*50 - 6 (no luck after time, tough one)
9. - I checked the solution and it wasn't in my vocabulary
After reading Victor's comment about the conundrum, I looked up the answer too. I, too, had never heard of it before. SITCOM is a good find.
ROSTI
DEEMING
6-5=1. (10-1)*75 + 7 = 682
RADIOS, DROOLS
SEWING
(8+1)*(100+3+2) + 3 = 948 1 away
BENCH
(6+9+1)*50 - 5 - 3 = 792 1 away
-
Was looking for -ING words and missed DEEMING and SEWING. Some days....
TRIMS
GENOME
(5+7)*50+75+6=681 (1 off)
DROIDS
SWING
3*3*(100+8-2-1)=945 (2 off)
BEACH
Jan's way
x- jumped in with INSOMNIA then realised it was wrong.
Apologies to all about the obscurity of the conundrum; one of those things where it got past my reasonableness filters.
Mike: I particularly like GENOME and DROIDS -- nice finds!
Solved both rounds 6&8 within about a minute, but 30 seconds was too quick for me.
GENOME was good, and DROIDS is a regular, but these weren't the words I was looking for.
1. STRICT. Thought I'd found MOTORIST, then STOICISM.
2. DEEMING/DOOMING
3. 682 = (10 + 5 - 6)*75 + 7
4. RADIOS
5. SEWING
6. one off: 948 = (8+1)*(100+3+2)+3, Victor's way after time.
7. ENHANCE
8. 1-away: 794 = (9-1)*(5-3)*50 - 6
- after time: 793 = (50-6)*(5-3)*9 + 1
9. 30.5s with MAMMONISM. My only plausible word, buzzed to try it when I thought time was almost up. Never heard of it. Dedicated to the pursuit of money, apparently (as opposed to the pursuit of mammaries).
Geoff - I find it hard to 'see' words when they are jumbled, unlike many of you. I originally had written down GNOME, and seeing that in writing made me think of GENOME with the extra E. Don't know if I would have thought of it otherwise.
Similarly with conundrums, my usual technique is to try and write another two words from it, and seeing them written down, I can sometimes get it.
I think it's why in letters games I usually write them down in a different order usually alternating consonants and vowels. Funnily enough, if I see a word in the first four letters, and write it down, it can prevent me from being open to other combinations. Being a creature of habit, I always put the E and D at the end hoping for a -ED suffix.
And Sam... LOL!
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