NG 299

New game 299 is now available.


Round 1: T E T T A E E B H

I had TEAT, BATHE, THETA, and then recalled an entry from The Superior Person's Book of Words and found the eight of HEBETATE ("to become blunt or dull").  It's probably almost thirty years since I read that, but that is one of the two words that stuck in my memory from it, in part due to his delightful example usages ("he who hebetates is lost").  The other word I recall from that is FORMICATE ("to swarm with moving beings, as ants"), which unreliable memory tells me was demonstrated via "Headmaster, I thought you ought to know that class 3B are formicating all over number 2 oval".

The next best is the six of TEETHE, and the other five is TEETH.

My selection: HEBETATE


Round 2: T A A C R L G J U

I had CARAT, AURAL, and ACTUAL.  After time I noted JAGUAR as another six. and for a moment thought that JUGULAR was available but that duplicates the wrong vowel.

Those are the only sixes, and the best to be done.

My selection: ACTUAL


Round 3: Target 769 from 75 10 8 3 10 4

The clear starting point is 75*10 = 750, and the offset is 19.  For some reason I overlooked the straightforward option of 10 + 8 + 4 - 3 and instead went for 4*8 - 10 - 3, but it still worked, of course: 769 = 75*10 + 4*8 - 10 - 3.  I also wrote down a variation 769 = (75 + 4)*10 - 10 - 8 - 3.

After time I saw that I could have taken the arguably more obvious approach of 10*77 - 1 to get 769 = (75 + 10 - 8)*10 - (4 - 3).

My selection: 769 = 75*10 + 4*8 - 10 - 3


Round 4: S E O K B L M A T

I had BLOKES, an unsure SMOKABLE, and MALTOSE.  I decided to chance SMOKABLE, and that was fortunately the right decision (SMOKABLE: "(of a drug) able to be absorbed by the body in the process of smoking").

The other eight is the plant ABELMOSK.  The sevens are OBLATES (OBLATE: "a person offered to the service of a monastery, but not under monastic vows") / BOATELS (BOATEL: "a hotel beside the water with a marina for people arriving in boats").

My selection: SMOKABLE


Round 5: E R R H W U F F O

I came up with seven invalid words and one valid one here; the clearly valid one was OFFER, while the invalid ones were HERR (requires the capital letter), FÜHRER (also requires the capital), a highly dubious WHUFF (I can only imagine I was thinking of WHOOF), HUFFER, WHUFFER, RUFFER, and FOURRE (I may have been trying to recall FOURRÉE, but it is not listed in the Macquarie in any case).  At least I managed to avoid trying any of the invalid options, though.

There were two sixes here: FURROW and FURORE.

My selection: OFFER
Best: FURROW


Round 6: Target 865 from 75 2 2 4 10 8

The lack of odd small numbers makes this difficult; I went with the one-off option of 866 = (75 + 8 + 4)*10 - 2*2.

The target is not reachable, so one off is the best to be done.

My selection: 866 = (75 + 8 + 4)*10 - 2*2  [1 off]


Round 7: A D A N T L S C O

I had DATA, LAND, ASLANT, and was anticipating a final E for DECANALS (DECANAL as a noun being another form of DECANI: "the portion of a cathedral choir on the south or dean's side").  It did not arrive, so I continued with CANOLA, CANOLAS, contemplated but rightly rejected COALSTAND, and COSTAL ("relating to the ribs or the side of the body").

After time I observed that SCOTLAND was present (but obviously not valid).  I'm a bit embarrassed at not adjusting COSTAL to COASTAL, and between that and COALSTAND I should have seen the possibility of COASTLAND.  I was undeservedly lucky to miss it, though, as COASTLAND is not in the Macquarie.  My condolences to anyone caught out by this, as it is an excellent spot.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are the aforementioned COASTAL / CATALOS (CATALO: "a hybrid resulting from crossing the American bison (popularly known as the buffalo) with cattle of the domestic breeds"), SCANDAL, DALTONS (DALTON being another term for "atomic mass unit"), and the musical term CALANDO ("gradually diminishing in loudness and tempo").

My selection: CANOLAS


Round 8: Target 200 from 100 25 75 8 3 6

I started with addition and 200 = 100 + 75 + 25, then saved a number with the multiplication 200 = 8*25.

My selection: 200 = 8*25


Round 9: REAR ECHOS

I got distracted by the various -CH- options (and RESEARCH in particular), but eventually thought to try HORSE and so found the answer of RACEHORSE.

My selection: RACEHORSE (13.5s)