NG 178

New game 178 is now ready.


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

I had BASS, BASSO, and had just decided that a final O for CABOOSES would be nice when it made an appearance.

CABOOSES is the only eight, and CABOOSE the only seven.  The sixes are FASCES ("a bundle of rods containing an axe, borne before Roman magistrates as an emblem of power and later used as a symbol of the Italian Fascists") and FOSSAE (plural of FOSSA: "the most primitive member of the civet family, Cryptoprocta ferox, of Madagascar").

My selection: CABOOSES


Round 2: R T T U E P H A M

I had UTTER, PUTTER, THREAT, TRUMPET, and TAPETUM ("Anatomy, Zoology any of certain membranous layers or the like, as in the choroid or retina").

Seven looks like the best, with the others being THUMPER, TEMPURA, and TURPETH ("a drug obtained from the roots of a plant, Operculina turpethum, of South-East Asia, formerly used as a purgative").  Although the Macquarie does list the adjective PHAT ("Colloquial excellent"), it does not explicitly list PHATTER and so it cannot count (due to the spelling shift induced by the second T).

My selection: TRUMPET


Round 3: Target 993 from 50 7 6 6 10 1

The approach of 1000 - 7 is very difficult to go past.  I settled on the answer of 993 = (6/6 + 1)*10*50 - 7.

There's only two other solutions, which also use the same idea but make the 1000 a bit differently: 993 = 50*(6 - 1)*(10 - 6) - 7 and 993 = 50*(6*(6 - 1) - 10) - 7.

My selection: 993 = (6/6 + 1)*10*50 - 7


Round 4: O O L S F M O I R

I got thrown by all of those O's, alas.  I had SOLO, FOOLS, and FOILS.  It took a while after time before I unearthed a six of FOLIOS.

It's just as well that one of those O's was not an A, as the trap of MAFIOSO would have been there.  The Macquarie does list it, but only capitalised.

Six does seem to be the limit; the only other one is FLOORS.  Some sources would allow the seven of ISOFORM but it's not in the Macquarie.

My selection: FOOLS
Best: FLOORS


Round 5: N L S C A E I R I

I had CLEANS, SCALIER, wanted a final T for CLARINETS and was disappointed it was a vowel, then found the eight of AIRLINES (no doubt thanks to missing AIRFARES in NG 177), and CARLINES (CARLINE being a type of plant, as well as a Scottish term for an old woman).

The other eight is IRENICAL (variant form of IRENIC: "peaceful; tending to promote or encourage peace or peaceful arts").  The adjective SNAILY is listed, but not the derived form SNAILIER.

My selection: AIRLINES


Round 6: Target 174 from 50 25 100 7 10 8

The standard method works quite easily here, and I started with 174 = 100 + 50 + 25 - (8 - 7).  Then I worked up from 150 instead with 174 = 100 + 50 + 8*(10 - 7) -- seen just now is that I could have saved a number with further tweaking: 174 = (10 - 7)*(50 + 8) -- and finally used the factor of 2 to get 174 = (50/25)*(8*10 + 7).

My selection: 174 = 100 + 50 + 25 - (8 - 7)


Round 7: D G W R O U A T S

I had WORD, GOURD, TOWARD, TOWARDS, and OUTWARDS.

OUTWARDS is the only eight; despite the influence of western movies OUTDRAWS is not listed.

The other sevens are RAGOUTS / RAGOUST (RAGOUST being a variant spelling of RAGOUT).

My selection: OUTWARDS


Round 8: Target 428 from 50 75 8 7 4 6

My first thought was to apply the standard method, which requires making a 3.  Fortunately that worked out and I had 428 = 7*50 + 75 + 6*4/8.  Then I realised that making the 28 as 4*7 was more sensible, getting 428 = 6*75 - 50 + 4*7.  Good sense asserted itself after finding that and I finished with the simpler 428 = 8*50 + 4*7.

My selection: 428 = 8*50 + 4*7


Round 9: NIL CRINGE

I pulled out the -ING easily enough, but it still took a while to find RECLINING.

My selection: RECLINING (6.4s)