NG 63

New game 63 is now available.

I'm having major issues with my home network, so the writeups are likely to be delayed until that is sorted out.


Round 1: L R R B A E I S H

I had BARREL, BAILERS (cricket deliveries that touch the bails but not the stumps), HAILERS, and BRASHER.  After time I noted BARRELS as another seven -- a bit odd that I did not have that as my first one.  I also checked on SHIRRABLE, but was not surprised that it was not listed.

Seven is the best; there's no joy with BARRELISH, and although the adjective BRASHY ("loosely fragmented; rubbishy") is listed, BRASHIER is not.

The other sevens are HARRIES, BEARISH, HERBALS (HERBAL: "a treatise on herbs or plants"), RAILERS (agent noun derived from RAIL in the sense of "to utter bitter complaint or vehement denunciation"), and BRASIER (variant spelling of BRAZIER: "a person who works in brass").

My selection: BRASHER


Round 2: C O E N G K U T I

I had ONCE, NECK, OUNCE, COUNT, and then the I gave -ING and TUCKING for seven.  I noted OUTING as a six, and that was it within time.

There are two other sevens: KETONIC (adjective derived from KETONE, a certain type of organic compound) / KENOTIC (adjective derived from KENOSIS: "Christ's renunciation of divine privilege at the incarnation in order that He might become entirely man while remaining truly God (based on Phil.2:6, 7, RV)").

My selection: TUCKING


Round 3: Target 571 from 25 75 7 3 6 8

The offsets for the standard method are 4 and 21, and I spotted that a little tweak of the latter would see me there: 571 = 7*(75 + 3) + 25.  Then I used the other option to get 571 = 8*75 - 25 - (7 - 3).

My selection: 571 = 7*(75 + 3) + 25


Round 4: M W U E B R A N U

I had UMBER, AMBER, URBAN, NUMBER, and URBANE.  I contemplated UBERMAN but rightly rejected it, and wish that the W had been a P for PENUMBRA.

Six turns out to be the best possible; the others are AUBURN, MANURE, BUREAU, BARMEN, and UMBRAE (one plural form of UMBRA: "shade; shadow").

My selection: NUMBER


Round 5: N S J D I E A P T

A good set of letters, aside from the J.  I had DINS, DINES, PAINED, PAINTED, and INSTEAD.  I also spotted DEPAINTS but I know that is not in the Macquarie.  After time I added PANTIES as another seven.

Sevens are the best to be done.  The others are SANDPIT / PANDITS (PANDIT: "(in India) a learned man; a scholar (used as a title of respect)"), PEDANTS / PENTADS (PENTAD: "a group of five"), STIPEND, DETAINS / STAINED / SAINTED / NIDATES (NIDATE: "to implant in a uterus"), and SAPIENT / PATINES (PATINE being a variant form of PATEN: "the plate on which the bread is placed in celebration of the Eucharist").

My selection: INSTEAD


Round 6: Target 907 from 100 8 9 10 4 5

A rather straightforward round; I went with 907 = 9*100 + 8 + 4 - 5.

My selection: 907 = 9*100 + 8 + 4 - 5


Round 7: F S R P O I A N A

I had PROFS, PRISON, SOPRANI / PARISON ("a preliminary shape or blank, from which a glass article is to be formed", although I had to check afterwards to be sure it was valid), INSOFAR (invalid, as it turns out -- it is only listed in the phrase INSOFAR AS), and FARINAS (FARINA: "flour or meal made from cereal grains, cooked as cereal or used in puddings, etc.").

If only that F had been a D then PARANOIDS would have been available.  But aside from that seven was the limit, and there's just the three of them listed above.

My selection: SOPRANI


Round 8: Target 457 from 50 6 8 2 3 9

The standard method works easily here, giving 457 = 9*50 + 8 + 2 - 3.  I also saved a number with a tweak from 400, via 457 = 8*(50 + 6) + 9.

My selection: 457 = 8*(50 + 6) + 9


Round 9: LUTE ENDED

A -ED ending looks likely, and the UN- beginning plays well with that.  It still took me a bit over twelve seconds to be confident enough about UNDELETED to try it.

My selection: UNDELETED (12.6s)


That conundrum solution gave me a maximal game, although it was a bit too slow to claim optimality on.  Still, it's always nice to do that.