Tuesday 9 April 2013

NG 102

New game 102 is now available.


Round 1: O E A F B C N S S

I had FACE, BEACON, BEACONS, hoped for a final R for BACONERS but no such luck, amused myself with SNOBFACES, and then noted CONFESS as another seven.

The remaining seven is CONFABS.

My selection: BEACONS


Round 2: T L O E M O R S E

I had MOTEL, TREMOLO ("a tremulous or vibrating effect produced on certain instruments and in the human voice, as to express emotion"), wondered about TREMOLOS (which is valid; I was just uncertain because I was thinking that TREMOLO was an adjective, although with time to think I would have sorted that out), and then avoided that confusion by finding MOLESTER for eight.  After time I noted OMELETS as another seven that I'd seen within time.

MOLESTER and TREMOLOS are the only eights; the other sevens are MOOTERS (MOOTER being the agent noun derived from MOOT: "to bring forward (any point, subject, project, etc.) for discussion"), MELTERS / SMELTER, METEORS / REMOTES, and LOOTERS / TOOLERS / RETOOLS / ROOTLES (ROOTLE: "to root or grub; rummage").  There's also MOLTERS, which would require derived forms of variant spellings to propagate (both MOULTER and MOLT are listed, but not MOLTER specifically).

My selection: MOLESTER


Round 3: Target 428 from 100 25 50 75 2 3

The target is 4*107, but the standard method looks much more the way to go.  A little experimentation shows that there are several solutions; I started with a prosaic 428 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) - 25 + 3 and then wrote down a second approach of 428 = (75 - 50)*25 - 2*100 + 3.

My selection: 428 = 2*(100 + 75 + 50) - 25 + 3


Round 4: T I G I R L A D R

I had GRIT, GILT, GLAIR ("the white of an egg"; it also has a verb sense), TRAIL / TRIAL, RIGID, and DIGITAL.  I also observed DIRTGIRL but correctly assumed that the Macquarie would not have this.

DIGITAL is the only seven, and there don't seem to be any sixes.  I'll just mention a couple of the other fives: TRIAD and TIDAL.

My selection: DIGITAL


Round 5: O E A P Y S N F C

I had SOAPY, PEONY, an uncertain SYNCOPE (I could not recall where I thought I had encountered this, and my error with BOHICAS in NG 100 still smarts somewhat), FANCY, and CANOPY.  After time I noted down OCEANS / CANOES and PECANS as other sixes.

SYNCOPE kept feeling right, though, so I decided to declare it.  It turns out to be valid, meaning "Phonetics the contraction of a word by omitting one or more sounds from the middle, as in the reduction of never to ne'er".  Phew!

That's the only seven; the other sixes are SPACEY, PONCES, CAPONS, CONEYS (CONEY being a variant spelling of CONY: "a rabbit"), and PAEONS (PAEON: "a metrical foot of four syllables, one long (in any position) and three short").

My selection: SYNCOPE


Round 6: Target 517 from 100 25 10 9 1 9

Those small numbers are not good for manouevring, and I really struggled with this mix.  I spent far too long trying to get 525 - (9 - 1), which was particularly tempting as 525 is 7*75.  It just wasn't working out, though, and eventually I switched tacks and found my way to three off the target with 520 = (9 - 1)*(100 - 25 - 10).

I was unable to better that after time, until computer searching showed that one off was achievable (the actual target not being reachable) with one of the options being 525 - 9.  I was close in my intended approach, then, but I needed that surety before I could find the way to do it: 516 = ((100 - 1)/9 + 10)*25 - 9.  Difficult, but findable if in the right frame of mind.

More annoyingly, there's a modification of my actual answer that gets two closer: 518 = (9 - 1)*(100 - 25 - 9) - 10.  That's the kind of thing I usually look for, but in this case I did not have time and then spent the efforts afterwards on different approaches.  If only I had seen this option I could have had a maximal game.

There's only one other way to get one away, the oddball 516 = (9*9 - 25)*(10 + 1) - 100.

My selection: 520 = (9 - 1)*(100 - 25 - 10)  [3 off]
Best: 518 = (9 - 1)*(100 - 25 - 9) - 10  [1 off]


Round 7: E E O I R N H D O

I had IRON and HEROINE.  A shame that the last two letters added nothing to that.

The other sevens are INHERED (INHERE: "to exist permanently and inseparably, as a quality, attribute, or element"), HONOREE, and HONORED.

My selection: HEROINE


Round 8: Target 800 from 50 9 8 1 5 2

An easy final numbers round; I wrote down the obvious 800 = 2*8*50, then avoided the large number with 800 = 8*(9 + 1)*2*5.  Then I spotted a somewhat circuitous approach that greatly appealed to me in its complication: 800 = (8 + 9)*(50 - 5 + 2) + 1.

My selection: 800 = (8 + 9)*(50 - 5 + 2) + 1


Round 9: WIDE HEATH

The HEAD fragment stood out for me, and although I hesitated a little it seemed clear that WHITEHEAD was the answer.  Blackheads were familiar as a teenager but whiteheads somewhat less so, at least as a term: "a pimple that has formed a head of pus".

My selection: WHITEHEAD (3.2s)

6 comments:

Victor said...

1. CONFESS
2. LOOTERS
3. 428 = 2*(100 + 75) + 50 + 25 + 3
4. TRAIL
5. CANOES (wanted D after the first 7 letters for DYSPNOEA)
6. 3-away: 520 = 10*(25 + 9 + 9 - 1) + 100
7. HEROINE
8. 800 = 8*(9 + 1)*5*2
9. -

Geoff Bailey said...

Wow, DYSPNOEA would have been an amazing find -- great vision, albeit unrewarded!

Mike Backhouse said...

Here are mine:

SCONES
SMELTER
3*(100+50)-25+2=427 (1 OFF)
GRAIL
SCONES (again!)
(9-1)*(75-10)=520 (3 away)
HORNED (wondered about HOONED so went with the safer option)
(9+8-1)*50=800 (interesting way without using the 50 Victor!)
x

Sam Gaffney said...

The crushing disappointment of an unnecessary elaborate solve...

1. CONFESS/BEACONS/CONFABS
2. x MOTELORS (HOTELOR is also invalid)
3. 428 = ((50-2)*3*75-100)/25 or (75-50)*25 - 2*100 + 3
4. DIGITAL
5. CANOPY
6. 8-away: 509 = (10+9+1)*25+9, saw 518 not long after. Tough mix.
7. HORNED
8. 800 = 2*8*50
9. WHITEHEAD - 10.1s

Geoff Bailey said...

*chuckles* I wish /this/ game had been the notional final. Agreed that round 6 was a very tough one.

Mike: I'm amused by the double scones, and made a little hungry by it. GRAIL is an unfortunate one, though; as I mentioned in episode 332 it should not be allowed. David erroneously allowed it then, but by the time episode 401 rolled around he had caught that error and ruled against it.

Sam Gaffney said...

Not only is this game not a notional final, but is actually only a practice match, even for a non-show game.