NG 93

New game 93 is now available.


Round 1: C L M W O A E S A

After the first four letters I had a speculative WELCOME written down, but it did not quite manage an appearance.  I don't think I've had much luck with the speculation.  Anyway, I had CALM, CLAMS, SCOWL, CLAWS, and a late find of CAMEOS.  After time I saw CAMELS as another six.

Another six is CAEOMA ("(in fungi) an aecium in which the spores are formed in chains and not enclosed in a peridium"); that definition is not entirely enlightening to me, but the important point is that one of its plural forms is CAEOMAS, the only seven in this mix (the other plural form is CAEOMATA).

The other sixes are MACAWS, SOLACE, ALAMOS (plural of ALAMO, apparently an American term for a cottonwood), AMOLES (AMOLE being a type of plant whose roots have been used as a substitute for soap), MESCAL (a type of cactus) / MACLES (MACLE: "Crystallography a compound crystal, consisting of two or more parts or crystals definitely orientated each to the other"), CALESA ("a type of horse-drawn carriage [...]", as I mentioned in yesterday's game), and CELOMS (CELOM being a variant spelling of COELOM: "the body cavity of a metazoan, as distinguished from the intestinal cavity").

My selection: CAMEOS


Round 2: N T I O E L G N E

I had INTO and TINGLE.  Despite the -ING fragment long words are hard to come by, although I was perhaps fortunate for that fourth vowel -- the next consonant was a K, and I would have misstepped by trying TOKENING (the Macquarie does not list a verb sense for TOKEN).  After time I noted GENTLE and LEGION as other sixes, and that a final R instead of the E would have yielded NITROGEN.

I played this game through before looking for best results of the previous game, which is a shame as it was similar to one of those rounds.  The relevant sevens would have been LENIENT and GENTILE, and the other ones available are LEONINE and LENTIGO ("freckle").

My selection: TINGLE


Round 3: Target 812 from 50 25 3 1 1 2

Those small numbers are clearly going to pose problems; a pair of 1's is generally unhelpful and it's only compounded by the lack of larger small numbers.  Even getting close looks a bit challenging, but 16*50 is somewhat near range and I was able to get to four away with 816 = (25 - 3*(2 + 1))*(50 + 1).  That was the best that I could manage within time.

After time I found another way to 816 by observing that 850 = 34*25, which coupled with a tweak to give 816 = ((50 + 1)*2/3)*(25 - 1).

Later checking shows that four away is the best possible; there's many ways to 816, but the only way to 808 is a variant of the previous answer: 808 = ((25 - 1)/3)*(2*50 + 1).

My selection: 816 = (25 - 3*(2 + 1))*(50 + 1)


Round 4: K R A O E S T P I

I had OKRA, RAKES, STREAK, PIRATES, TROIKAS (TROIKA: "any group of three persons acting together for a common purpose"), rejected PARKSITE (PARKLAND is valid, but not PARKSITE), and spotted PORKIEST which would be OK in Countdown but I recalled from past experience that the Macquarie does not allow it.  After time I noted a few other sevens of PROTEAS, PORKIES, and RIPOSTE.

Seven is the best to be done; there are quite a few others: OPIATES, SOAPIER, REPOSIT ("to put back; replace"), ROPIEST, POKIEST, SEAPORT / ESPARTO (a type of grass), and TRAIPSE / PIASTRE (any one of several currencies) / PIASTER (variant spelling of PIASTRE).

My selection: PIRATES


Round 5: C T T T U O E I S

I had TOUT, wandered about OUTIES (in the context of belly buttons; this turns out to be listed), CUTIES, rejected CUTTIES (correctly), amused myself by thinking that OUTSECT could be the opposite of an insect, and then found TOTTIES for seven.  After time I noted OCTETS as another six.

Unfortunately, the Macquarie strikes again: TOTTY is listed ("Originally British Colloquial a woman, especially an attractive one") but without an explicit plural form so under the default rules TOTTIES is not valid.  Annoying.

Six is the best possible, it seems, and the others are OUTSET, CUTEST, COITUS, OUTSIT, and TUTTIS (plural of TUTTI: "a tutti passage or movement", where the adjective meaning of TUTTI is "intended for or performed by all (or most of) the voices or instruments together [...]").

My selection: [invalid -- TOTTIES]


Round 6: Target 557 from 75 2 7 8 9 4

I saw the familiar 7*8*9 = 504 there, and since it was close wondered if it would be usable.  Adding 75 leaves a required offset of 22 to make, and a little tweak saw me home with 557 = 9*(7*8 - 2) + 75 - 4.  Then I worked down from 600, with the offset of 43 also being manageable with a tweak: 557 = 8*(75 - 4) - 9 - 2.  Finally I used the fomulation 9*61 + 8 to find the solution 557 = (75 - 2*7)*9 + 8.

For some reason I did not think to start from 7*75, but if I had the fairly simple solution 557 = 7*75 + 4*8 should have been clear.  This was ably found by commenter Victor.

My selection: 557 = 9*(7*8 - 2) + 75 - 4


Round 7: S S L T A I U M E

I was stuck for a while with just LASTS, but when the final letter went up I saw SIMULATES, presumably aided by the recent SIMULATED in NG 89.

The eights are SIMULATE and probably LITMUSES.

There's a lot of sevens, as is to be expected: AIMLESS / SAMIELS (SAMIEL being another name for SIMOOM: "a hot, suffocating sand-laden wind of the deserts of Arabia, Syria, Africa, etc."), MUESLIS, SALUTES, SALTIES (SALTIE being colloquial for "a saltwater crocodile"), SALUTES / TALUSES (TALUS: "a slope"), AMULETS, ULTIMAS (ULTIMA: "the last syllable of a word"), AUTISMS, SAMITES (SAMITE: "a heavy silk fabric, sometimes interwoven with gold, worn in the middle ages") / TAMISES (TAMIS: "a cloth sieve or strainer"), and SAMLETS (SAMLET: "a young salmon").

My selection: SIMULATES


Round 8: Target 916 from 25 7 9 6 10 6

My first thought was to make this as 900 + 16 (overlooking 925 - 9, which was probably just as well).  I saw that 9 + 7 made 16 and it was just a question of whether the rest would work out.  Since the 25 needed to be multiplied by 36 to reach the 900 everything fell nicely into place, and my solution was 916 = 6*6*25 + 9 + 7.  It seems fortunate that I did not first look at making the 16 from 10 + 6, as I don't think it can be done that way.

My selection: 916 = 6*6*25 + 9 + 7


Round 9: PAGAN PIES

This time around the -ING was helpful, and I had APPEASING fairly quickly.

My selection: APPEASING (2.3s)