NG 573

New game 573 is now available.

The re-run is episode 301; its rounds are here, and its writeup is here.


Round 1: B A T E N A C D D

I had BEAT and CANTED / DECANT.  I also noted a couple of near-miss full monties in the form of CANDIDATE and ABDICATED.

Six turns out to be the best on offer; the others are DANCED, ABATED, BANDED, CATENA ("a chain or connected series, especially of extracts from the writings of the fathers of the Christian church"), CADENT ("having cadence"), ADNATE ("grown fast to something; congenitally attached"), and BANTED (BANT: "to reduce weight by banting"; 'banting' is a type of diet).

My selection: DECANT


Round 2: N S M E S E A L W

I had MENS, MESS, SEEMS, SEAMEN, an uncertain MALENESS (not valid), and then happily spotted the safe anagram of SALESMEN.

The other eights are NAMELESS / LAMENESS.  The sevens are WEASELS, MEASLES, ENAMELS, and AWNLESS (AWN: "a bristle-like appendage of a plant, especially on the glumes of grasses").

My selection: SALESMEN


Round 3: Target 479 from 2 6 6 3 1 9

Ah, six small, it often warms my heart to see it.  I noted that the target was near 6*80, and so wrote down a one-off 480 = (9*(6 + 3) - 1)*6.  Then I "untweaked" that to observe that 9*(6 + 3)*6 was the nearby 486, and the question was whether the remaining 1 and 2 could then retweak with that to make the desired offset of 7.  Of course, 7 is 9*1 - 2 and so I found a solution: 479 = (6 + 3)*(6*9 - 1) + 2.

That turns out to be the only solution (other than the trivial variation of swapping 9 and 6 + 3).

My selection: 479 = (6 + 3)*(6*9 - 1) + 2


Round 4: I D O E H R U S C

I had HIDE, HORDE, SHROUD, CRUSHED, HEROICS, HIDEOUS, COURSED / SOURCED, and finally found CHORUSED for eight.  After time I noted ORCHIDS as another seven.

CHORUSED is the only eight.  The other sevens are CRUISED, SCOURED, DUCHIES, CHOIRED, CHIDERS, CUSHIER, and DOUCHES / HOCUSED (HOCUS being listed as obsolete: "to play a trick on; hoax; cheat").

My selection: CHORUSED


Round 5: P I O G A R S N O

I had GRIP, GRASP, SOAPING, PARISON, wondered about SPOORING (valid, as it turns out; SPOOR as a verb is: "to follow a spoor"), and knew from past experience that PRONOIAS was not listed.  I decided against SPOORING, unfortunately.  After time I noted SPARING / RASPING and SIGNORA as other sevens.

SPOORING is the only eight -- other sources might allow POGONIAS, but it is not in the Macquarie.  The other sevens are SOARING / ORIGANS (ORIGAN: "marjoram, especially the wild marjoram, Origanum vulgare, of Europe and Asia"), PARINGS / PARSING, SOPRANO, SOPRANI, PROSING (PROSE as a verb: "to turn into prose") / SPORING (SPORE as a verb: "to bear or produce spores"), PORANGI (a New Zealand colloquialism: "mad; crazy").

My selection: PARISON
Best: SPOORING


Round 6: Target 524 from 75 50 1 10 5 9

The target is one off 7*75, and it is hard to resist using that as an approach.  A little thought produced such an answer: 524 = (9 - 10/5)*75 - 1.  Then I noted the simpler 524 = 9*50 + 75 - 1.

My selection: 524 = (9 - 10/5)*75 - 1


Round 7: O T I R M P A C B

I had RIOT, IMPORT, POTAMIC ("of or relating to rivers"), and wondered about IMPACTOR.  I did not like it enough, though, and it turns out that I was right to avoid it.

Seven is the best to be done here; the others are APRICOT / PAROTIC ("situated about or near the ear") and APOMICT ("an organism produced by apomixis").

My selection: POTAMIC


Round 8: Target 846 from 50 25 7 2 9 5

I started by considering the nearby 11*75 = 825, and wrote down a fallback one away 847 = (50 + 25 + 7 - 5)*(9 + 2).  Then I considered the factor of 9; the cofactor is 94, and in order to preserve flexibility with the small numbers it seemed to me that this needed to be made as 50 + 25 + 19.  I realised that 19 was 2*7 + 5, and so found a solution: 846 = (50 + 25 + 2*7 + 5)*9.

There turn out to be quite a few other solutions, although I had found the only way to make it as 9*94.  My favourite of the other solutions is 846 = (9*5 + 2)*(25 - 7).

My selection: 846 = (50 + 25 + 2*7 + 5)*9


Round 9: HAT MILIEU

My selection: [N/A -- chosen]
Best: HUMILIATE


I talked myself out of a maximal game tonight, or perhaps failed to talk myself into it, thanks to round five.  Still pretty good results, though, so I'm happy about that.