NG 85

New game 85 is now available.


Round 1: R A M D A G R E A

I had DRAM ("a small drink of liquor"), DRAMA, MARRED, GRADER, and a speculative DAMAGER.  Fortunately that turned out to be allowed.

It's the only seven, too.  The other sixes are DAMAGE, REGARD, and ARMADA.

My selection: DAMAGER


Round 2: L D O T B O E P T

I had TOLD, BLOT, BLOOD, BOOTED, TOOTLED, and BOTTLED.

Sevens are the best again; the others are PLOTTED and BLOTTED.

My selection: BOTTLED


Round 3: Target 373 from 100 9 10 7 4 2

The standard method worked easily to give the solution 373 = 4*100 - 9*(10 - 7) (although now that I look at that 373 = 4*100 - 2*10 - 7 might well have been easier).  Then I aimed to avoid the large number entirely and found the alternative solution 373 = (9*4 + 2)*10 - 7.

My selection: 373 = (9*4 + 2)*10 - 7


Round 4: L O R R O I C B U

Not a very helpful set of vowels; I had ROIL, the variant spelling COLOR, then COLOUR and RUBRIC ("a title, heading, direction, or the like, in a manuscript, book, etc., written or printed in red or otherwise distinguished from the rest of the text").

Those turn out to be the only sixes, but there are longer options.  The eight here is BICOLOUR ("of two colours"), and the sevens are BICOLOR (variant spelling of BICOLOUR) and COULOIR ("a steep gorge or gully on the side of a mountain").

My selection: COLOUR


Round 5: N M U E H N O R N

I had MENU, briefly wondered why HUMEN wasn't the plural of HUMAN, RHEUM, rejected HOURMEN, and settled on NEURON for six.

After time I considered NUMENON, but correctly remembered that the right spelling was NOUMENON ("(in Kantian philosophy) that which can be the object only of a purely intellectual (non-sensuous) intuition; essentially, a postulate").

NEURON is the only six; there's a few fives, of which I'll just mention HOMER, MOURN, and HUMOR as more common examples.

Update: Commenter Sam pointed out that DEHORN is another six.

My selection: NEURON


Round 6: Target 450 from 50 75 9 9 3 1

A rather boring target for these letters; I wrote down 450 = 9*50 and left it at that.

My selection: 450 = 9*50


Round 7: S T E U A K C F I

I had SUET, SAUTÉ, STEAK, FACETS, and FAKIES (FAKIE: "Skateboarding a manoeuvre in which the skateboarder rides backwards with the weight balanced as in a normal stance").

After time I finally saw FAUCETS for seven, and it is the only one.  It's a bit annoying to have been so close with FACETS but missed that.

The other sixes are CASKET, CUTIES, FIESTA, FAUCET, FUSTIC (a type of tree or a different shrub), FAUCES ("the cavity at the back of the mouth, leading into the pharynx"), FACIES ("a general appearance of something naturally occurring, as a particular flora, fauna or ecological community"), and ACUTES (ACUTE as a noun referring to the acute accent, as shown on the E of SAUTÉ) / CUESTA ("Geology a landform characterised by an asymmetrical ridge with an abrupt cliff on one side forming the escarpment and a gentle slope on the other forming the back slope").

My selection: FACETS


Round 8: Target 142 from 75 5 1 9 6 3

The target is clearly twice 71, and there's plenty of manouevring room with the small numbers; I went with 142 = (75 - 5 + 1)*6/3.

After time I found a way to stick to small numbers only with 42 = 3*5*9 + 6 + 1.

My selection: 142 = (75 - 5 + 1)*6/3


Round 9: TRULY DEEP

Pulling out the -LY helped, and the -EDLY ending turned out to be useful this time.  Under three seconds to find the answer of REPUTEDLY seems to be a good result for me considering my usual times.

My selection: REPUTEDLY (2.7s)