NG 80

New game 80 is now available.


Round 1: M D R C S I E E F

I had CRIMS, CRIMES, and MERCIES.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are DECRIES and REMISED (REMISE: "Law to give up a claim to; surrender by deed").  DE-ICERS needs the hyphen, and maybe nobody in the Macquarie has had to deal with an obstreperous photocopier or printer as MISFEED is not listed either.

My selection: MERCIES


Round 2: F B E H C S O E N

I had CHEF, CHEFS, ECHOES, CHOSEN, OBSCENE, and BENCHES.

Those are the only sevens, as it turns out.

My selection: OBSCENE


Round 3: Target 238 from 25 100 3 3 4 2

I noted that one offset was 13, which was 3*3 + 4, and tweaking took me the rest of the way with 238 = 3*(100 - 25 + 3) + 4.  Then I did the prosaic untweaked version of 238 = 2*100 + 25 + 3*3 + 4.  Pulling out the factor of 2 gave an alternative of 238 = 2*(100 + 25 - 3 - 3); another way to view this is as 250 - 12, and it's unusual that I did not concentrate on that first as 12 is much more formable than 13 as a general rule.  If I had done so I would likely have found 238 = 2*(100 + 25) - 3*4.

Still within time I looked at the ridiculous 400 - 162, and that latter number is familiar as twice 81; the resulting solution was 238 = 4*100 - (25 + 2)*(3 + 3).  Overly complicated, but it amused me.

While writing this up I noticed that the target is divisible by 7, and the cofactor is 34.  A solution that results from this is 238 = (4 + 3)*(100 + 2)/3.

My selection: 238 = 4*100 - (25 + 2)*(3 + 3)


Round 4: G C M P I E E S A

I had MICE, PIECES, noticed CAMPESE (which does have an entry, as expected, but is, of course, capitalised), MAGPIES, and spotted EPIC GAMES in there for good measure.

MAGPIES is the only seven; some sources would allow its anagram MISPAGE but the Macquarie does not.

My selection: MAGPIES


Round 5: N D T N T A O O E

After those first five vowels I was hoping for DETONATE (or ANTINODE, for that matter), and it almost turned up but not quite.  I had NOTATED and ODONTATE.  This latter is not valid; the concept I was thinking of is ascibed to the word ODONTOID ("resembling a tooth").

NOTATED is the only seven; some sources would allow ODONATE (an insect order that includes dragonflies) but it's not in the Macquarie.

My selection: [invalid -- ODONTATE]


Round 6: Target 318 from 100 4 5 8 3 7

The factor of 3 is clear, and I went with 318 = 3*(100 + 8 + 5 - 7).  After time I looked at the standard method and found the alternative solution of 318 = (8 + 5)*100/4 - 7.

My selection: 318 = 3*(100 + 8 + 5 - 7)


Round 7: S S N A U U U H R

Oh, dear.  Those three U's put paid to most options; I had SANS and SHUNS.  As expected, URANUS is only listed with a capital letter.

There are two sixes, though: HUSSAR ("(originally) one of a body of light Hungarian cavalry formed during the 15th century") / SURAHS (SURAH: "one of the 114 chapters of the Koran [...]").

My selection: SHUNS


Round 8: Target 666 from 75 25 2 6 1 9

Ah, those familiar repeated triple digits.  Since they were even I knew this was a multiple of 74, and it was short work to find the solution 666 = 9*(75 - 1).  Then I pulled out the factor of 6 instead to get the alternative solution 666 = (75 + 25 + 9 + 2)*6.

My selection: 666 = 9*(75 - 1)


Round 9: FRIED NEWT

The W was a natural point to focus on; I extracted WINTER from it, and decided that WINTERFED seemed plausible.  A little more thought convinced me that nothing better was likely to be there, and indeed the answer is WINTERFED (WINTERFEED: "to feed in the winter, as cattle").

My selection: WINTERFED (7.0s)