NG 81

New game 81 is now available.


Round 1: N K C M E E U G F

I had NECK, MUNGE (I hadn't realised this was computer jargon, but I guess that makes sense: "(derogatory) to transform information imperfectly", amongst other meanings), and then a rather safer FENCE.  Like many others, I imagine, I noticed FUCKEN (listed as equivalent to FUCKING as an adjective) but did not even write it down this time.  That's the only six.

The other five is NEUME ("any of various syllables used in medieval music notation [...]").

My selection: FENCE


Round 2: N N I I S E D F O

I had INNS, NINES, SINNED, and ONSIDE.  No plausible sevens presented themselves, although I did note that an M instead of that F would yield DIMENSION.

The sevens are IONISED / IODINES, but  there is an eight: SINFONIE is one plural form of SINFONIA, meaning "symphony".

Update: Thanks to commenter Jan for pointing out ONDINES (ONDINE being a variant form of UNDINE: "one of a class of mythological female water-sprites").

My selection: SINNED


Round 3: Target 802 from 75 50 100 2 8 7

A bit trivial, I'm afraid.  I wrote down 802 = 8*100 + 2 and left it at that.

My selection: 802 = 8*100 + 2


Round 4: O A R T O E H P G

I had ROTA, ORATE, and PORTAGE.

The other seven, found by commenter Mike, is ROOTAGE ("the act of taking root").

My selection: PORTAGE


Round 5: L S D E U P H L O

I had SLED, DUELS, PULSED, and UPHOLDS.  This latter would probably have been easier to find from looking at the letters as presented; in this instance my policy of reorganising them made things a little more difficult.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are HULLOES, HULLOED, and DUELLOS (DUELLO: "the practice or skill of duelling").

My selection: UPHOLDS


Round 6: Target 983 from 50 75 100 25 4 6

Getting to a thousand was easy, and a tweak to three away with (6 + 4)*(100 - 50/25) should have been easy to find.  But I missed that, concentrating on getting to 975 instead.  I found my way to four off with 979 = (25 - 6)*50 + 100 - 75 + 4, then recalled some advice that Sam once gave me and knew that there must be a two-away 981 = 975 + 6 available.  Further thought turned up the option 981 = (25 - 4)*50 - 75 + 6.

That turns out to be the best possible result on this target.  There are two other options; the first is the trivial one which replaces 50 by (100 - 50) in my answer.  The second is the similar 981 = (50 - 4)*25 - 100 - 75 + 6.

Sam's advice, by the way, is that with four large numbers and any small number between 3 and 10 (inclusive) every multiple of 25 up to a thousand can be made.  Since 4 is in the requisite range it was certain that 975 could be made without the 6, and so 981 was achievable.

My selection: 981 = (25 - 4)*50 - 75 + 6


Round 7: D B A C L E A S R

I had CLAD, CABLED, SCALED, and a desperate CABLERS.  That turns out to be invalid, alas.  After time I saw the rather safer options of CRADLES and ABRADES; then while trying to go to sleep that night I thought of CALDERAS (CALDERA: "a large crater formed by the explosion or subsidence of the cone of a volcano").

That is the only eight; the other sevens are CALDERA, ARCADES, SCALARE (another name for the angelfish), and ARABLES (ARABLE is an adjective, of course -- "capable, without much modification, of producing crops by means of tillage" -- but also a noun referring to arable land).

My selection: [invalid -- CABLERS]


Round 8: Target 993 from 75 50 25 100 4 9

The same observation as for round 6 means that two away with 991 = 1000 - 9 must be possible.  But at some point I tried subtracting 75 and saw that the result of 918 was divisible by 9, leading to the solution 993 = 9*(100 + 50/25) + 75.

There's a few other solutions, but they are just variant forms of that approach.

My selection: 993 = 9*(100 + 50/25) + 75


Round 9: VESSEL LOG


I was a bit slow to find GLOVELESS here, but got there in due course.  I was a bit tempted to choose LOVES LEGS as the conundrum division; in retrospect I wish I had.

My selection: GLOVELESS (7.1s)