Wednesday 25 September 2013

NG 223

New game 223 is now ready.  Enjoy!


Round 1: A C U W T F E T I

I had FACT, FACET, ACUTE, ATTIC / TACIT, and wondered about CATTIE as a variant spelling of CATTY ("a unit of weight used in Asia for the sale of rice, fruit, etc., equal to approx. 625 grams").  I didn't like it, though, and rightly so -- only the spelling CATTY is listed.

There is a six here, though: FAUCET.  The other fives are TWICE, CUTIE, and TACET ("(in a music score) an indication that an instrument or voice is to be silent for a time").

My selection: FACET
Best: FAUCET


Round 2: D L N B L A A O O

I had BLAND, BALLAD, and BALLOON.

BALLOON is the only seven; the other six is ANODAL.

My selection: BALLOON


Round 3: Target 199 from 50 100 2 9 9 3

Getting to 200 is straightforward, and the remaining offset of 1 is easy also: 199 = 2*200 - 9/9.  For good meaure I noted another solution of 199 = 100 + 9*(9 + 2).

My selection: 199 = 2*100 - 9/9


Round 4: R N H C T O A E I

I had TORCH, ANCHOR, ANCHORET (which I mentioned two days ago in NG 221: "someone who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion; hermit; recluse"), CHAROITE (an unusual gemstone ably found by David in the plural back in episode 7), REACTION / CREATION, and then belatedly realised -- as I did mention in NG 221 also -- that ANCHORET is a variant spelling of ANCHORITE.

There is another nine here: ANTECHOIR ("an enclosed space in front of the choir of a church").  The other eights are ANTIHERO, INCHOATE, and ANORTHIC (another term for TRICLINIC: "denoting or relating to a system of crystallisation in which the three axes are unequal and intersect at oblique angles").

My selection: ANCHORITE


Round 5: M S T P A A E M I

I had STAMP, PASTA, and PASTIME / IMPASTE.  I also noted MEAT PIES, but obviously that is two words.

There are a pair of eights here: PSAMMITE ("any sandstone") and IMAMATES (IMAMATE: "the office of an imam").  The other sevens are IMAMATE and MISMATE / TAMMIES (plural of TAMMY, a variant form of TAMIS: "a cloth sieve or strainer").

My selection: PASTIME
Best: PSAMMITE


Round 6: Target 330 from 50 100 8 9 7 5

I got a little lost at first as I spent too much time thinking about 325 + 5.  But at some point I realised the factorisation 5*66 and that got me to the solution 330 = 5*(50 + 9 + 7).  Then I observed that the offset of 20 was manageable as 100/5 and found the alternative solution 330 = 7*50 - 100/5.

My selection: 330 = 7*50 - 100/5


Round 7: O U I T R G T A B

I had TOUR, GROUT, OUTRIG, GUITAR, and OUTBRAG.  Fortunately I've had to look up OUT- words a lot during the course of this blog, so I knew that was listed.

The other seven here is TUGBOAT

My selection: OUTBRAG


Round 8: Target 623 from 25 100 50 75 6 10

Ooh, a tough one, at least for me -- I expect Sam to have had fewer problems.  Getting to 625 is easy enough from the large numbers, but an offset of 2 thereafter is less so.  I ended up thinking I would have to settled for something nearby, and as I started with 6*100 I realised that the rest rather fortuitously worked out: 623 = 6*(100 + 75/25) + 50/10.  A pleasing solution!

There are two other solutions; the Sam-like one is 623 = 6*100 + (10*50 + 75)/25.  The other solution makes it as 648 - 25: 623 = (75 + 6)*(10 - 100/50) - 25.

My selection: 623 = 6*(100 + 75/25) + 50/10


Round 9: START UNIT

I doubt I would have solve this in time, but in practice I thought it was yet non-common word and buzzed in early with the invalid TRUANTIST.

My selection: [invalid -- TRUANTIST at 7.1s]
Best: ANTITRUST

4 comments:

Victor said...

1. ACUTE (rejected FATTIE (noun sense) - only FATTY is allowed)
2. BALLOON
3. 199 = 100 + 9*(9 + 2)
4. REACTION
5. PASTIME
6. 330 = 5*(50 + 9 + 7)
7. AGOUTI
8. 1-away: 622 = 6*(100 + 50/25) + 10
(after time: 6*(100 + 75/25) + 50/10)
9. x (tried TRUANTIST)

Mike Backhouse said...

Here are mine:

ATTIC
BALLOON
Geoff's way
REACTION
STAMP
Geoff's way again!
GROUT (missed GUITAR again - grrr...)
10*75-100-50+25=625 (2 off)
x- even if I had seen it, I might have thought there would be a hyphen. You live and learn...

Sam Gaffney said...

I was sure I'd be the only one to solve Round 4. Went down the wrong paths for too long on Round 8, trying the different ways to get 625.

1. FAUCET
2. BALLOON
3. 199 = 100 + 9*(9 + 2)
4. ANCHORITE
5. PASTIME
6. 330 = 5*(50 + 9 + 7)
7. x ABUTTOR
8. Within time, probably only 625. I think I was too late with Geoff's way.
9. Also did TRUANTIST, saw ANTITRUST at around 30-60s.

Unknown said...

1. x citate
2. balloon
3. (100x2)-9/9=199
4. reaction
5. stamp
6. (7x50)-(100/5)=330
7. outrig
8. 6x(100+75/25) +50/10=623
9. x got stuck on naturist!
Congrats on the full monties!