Thursday 28 February 2013

NG 74

New game 74 is now available.


Round 1: N T D U E N O E N

I had TUNED and... UNTENDED.  Unfortunately I did not pick up the extra D until well after I would have declared that answer, so it's an invalid result for me.  I did notice that if that last vowel had been an I then INNUENDO would have been available, and after time I found the seven of UNNOTED (while correctly guessing that UNTONED would not be listed).

The other seven is TENONED (TENON: "to shape so as to fit into a mortice", amongst other similar meanings); END NOTE is listed as two words only.

The sixes are TENDON, UNDONE, DENOTE, DETUNE, and TUNNED (TUN as a verb: "to put into or store in a tun or tuns"; TUN as a noun is "a large cask for holding liquids, etc., especially wine, ale, or beer").

My selection: [invalid -- UNTENDED]


Round 2: L I T D I T A H S

I had ADIT, ADITS, and DISTAL ("situated away from the point of origin or attachment, as of a limb or bone").  I also saw DISTIL but erroneously thought the spelling would only be DISTILL; later on I realised that DISTIL was fine, but not within time.  After time I noted HALTS as another five, but did not see anything longer.

There is a probable seven here; LITHIA is "a white oxide of lithium [...]", so LITHIAS could be a seven.  Aside from LITHIA, the other sixes are LATISH / LATHIS (LATHI: "Indian English a heavy pole or stick used as a club in India, especially by police") / TAHILS (TAHIL: "a unit of weight used in Malaysia, equal to one sixteenth of a catty"), TILTHS (TILTH: "tilled land"), and HALIDS (HALID being a variant spelling of HALIDE: "a compound, usually of two elements only, one of which is a halogen").

My selection: DISTAL


Round 3: Target 147 from 75 25 4 9 7 4

The standard method looks plausible, but the factor of 7 is hard to go past and my first solution was 147 = 7*(25 - 4).  Using the standard method turned out to be a bit more difficult than I imagined, but I got there with 147 = 9*25 - 75 - (7 - 4).

My selection: 147 = 7*(25 - 4)


Round 4: R P I G A F C A T

I had GRIP, PAIR, CRAFT, amused myself by spotting AFRICA in there (it requires the capital letter, as expected; interestingly, though, AFRICAN has a lowercase sense as a colloquial term for a cigarette), and then CAPITA.  I was thinking of the phrase PER CAPITA and hoping that it also had a stand-alone sense; fortunately it does, as the plural of CAPUT ("any head or headlike expansion on a structure, as on a bone").

The other sixes are TRAGIC and AGARIC ("an agaricaceous fungus", apparently).  But there is a seven after all, ably found by Sam in the comments: PARFAIT ("a dessert, served in a tall glass, made from layers of ice-cream, fruit, jelly, syrup, nuts, etc.").  Nice one, Sam!

My selection: CAPITA


Round 5: R M R E O M R E P

I had MORE, ERROR, and ROMPER.  Just a bit too late I saw EMPEROR at last, which was doubly unfortunate as ROMPER is not valid.  (ROMPER SUIT is listed, with ROMPERS given as a synonymous term, but no usage of ROMPER on its own.  Bother.)

So the best to be done after EMPEROR are fives, with the others being MOPER / PROEM ("an introductory discourse"), REPRO (colloquial for "a reproduction"), ORMER (a type of abalone), and EMMER (a form of wheat).

There's an interesting situation here with MERE; it's an adjective that is listed as having an associated superlative form (MEREST) but not a comparative form, so MERER is not valid.

My selection: [invalid -- ROMPER]


Round 6: Target 408 from 6 4 7 3 2 8

The factor of 8 stands out, and the cofactor is 51.  I started with 408 = (7*6 + 4 + 3 + 2)*8 and then saved a number with 408 = (7 + 6 + 4)*3*8.  A little more playing around got me to the idea of 420 - 12, and the solution 408 = 6*7*(8 + 2) - 4*3.

My selection: 408 = (7*6 + 4 + 3 + 2)*8


Round 7: C C U E S S A O G

I had CUES and CAUSES / SAUCES.  That was all I could get, rounding out what was a pretty unsuccessful day for me on the letters.

The sevens are ACCUSES, GASEOUS, and CASEOUS ("of or like cheese").

My selection: CAUSES


Round 8: Target 268 from 25 75 7 8 3 2

The standard method is clearly tempting as the offset of 7 is already present, and it did not take long to find 268 = 8*25 + 75 - 7.  The target also factors as 4*67, leading to the solution 268 = (7 - 3)*(75 - 8).

My selection: 268 = 8*25 + 75 - 7


Round 9: SCOUR TOMB

The presence of the -OMB- fragment in the clue might help lead to the answer of COMBUSTOR.  I wasn't certain about it, but it seemed too good not to be true.  It is "the combustion chamber, fuel injection system, and igniter in a jet engine or ramjet".

My selection: COMBUSTOR (19.8s)

7 comments:

Jan said...

Some tough letter rounds this time, with multiples...

UNDONE
TAILS
9*25 - 75 - (7-4) = 147
CIGAR, CRAFT
MOPER
(8+2)*(7*6) - 3*4 = 408
CAUSES
75*8/2 - 25 - 7 = 268
COMBUSTOR - 27.8 secs

Sam Gaffney said...

There were some tough mixes here, even getting seven-letter words was hard work.

1. UNDONE
2. HALTS
3. 147 = 9*25 - 75 - (7-4)
4. PARFAIT (first TRAGIC)
5. EMPEROR (nearly PERFORMER)
6. 408 = (6*7 +4 +3 +2)*8
7. ACCUSES (first SCOUSE)
8. 268 = 8*25 +75 -7
9. COMBUSTOR - 10.7 secs

Mike Backhouse said...

Not much joy for me today

TUNED
SHALT
9*25-75-4=146 (1 off -must have been asleep for missing the 7-4)
PRIG, FACT
ROMPER
(7+3)*4*(8+2)+6=406 (2 off - well done Sam and Jan on this one. I was distracted by each group of two numbers adding to 10)
GUESS
(7+3)*(25+2)-(8-7)=269 (1 off)
x

Geoff Bailey said...

I was off my game today (in part due to making the mistake of playing it while on hold), but Sam's answers were likely too good for me in any case. Some tough mixes, but PARFAIT was brilliant.

My answers:

1. [invalid: UNTENDED]
2. DISTAL
3. 147 = 7*(25 - 4)
4. CAPITA
5. ROMPER (saw EMPEROR too late)
6. 408 = (7*6 + 4 + 3 + 2)*8
7. CAUSES
8. 268 = 8*25 + 75 - 7
9. COMBUSTOR (19.s)

Sam Gaffney said...

It is interesting how subtle background distractions can take the edge off performance.

DISTAL looks a useful word to remember.

Mike Backhouse said...

For what it's worth, I meant to submit DETUNE instead of TUNED for my first letters.

Geoff Bailey said...

A late note: ROMPER is invalid after all. So that's two invalid words for me in this game.