NG 577

New game 577 is now available.

The re-run is episode 305; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: M D G I C H O E A

I had CHID (a possibly-archaic past tense of CHIDE), HOMED, COMEDIA (variant spelling of KOMEDYA: "a once-popular Philippine dramatic form dealing with the conflict between Christians and Moors in early medieval Europe"), HOMAGE, could not recall if HOMAGED was valid (it is not), and CODEIA (another name for CODEINE).  After time I noted HAEMOID ("bloodlike") as another seven.

COMEDIA and HAEMOID turn out to be the only sevens, so this was a tough mix to start the game off.

My selection: COMEDIA


Round 2: T S I T N U F P A

And this set does not look very promising either.  Oh, well.  I had STINT, UNITS, UNFIT, recalled from previous checking that PANTSUIT was not valid, TAUNTS, and PAINTS

There are two sevens available: FUSTIAN ("a stout fabric of cotton and flax") and TIPUNAS (TIPUNA: "NZ a grandparent or more remote ancestor").

My selection: TAUNTS


Round 3: Target 638 from 25 50 1 5 4 6

I got stuck at first trying for far too much; when I realised I was in trouble I wrote down a rather poor fallback of 648 = (6 + 5 + 1)*(50 + 4), a full ten away from the target.  Then I turned my attention to the option of 1276/2, which is (25*51 + 1)/2... the components for it are almost there, but not quite.  Still, working with that idea greatly improved my answer to a two-off 640 = (25*(50 + 1) + 5) / (6 - 4).

After time I saw that I could get to 600 as 6*4*25, and that let me tweak my way to one off with 639 = 6*(4*25 - 1) + 50 - 5.  It turns out that the target is unreachable, so one off is the best to be done.

My selection: 640 = (25*(50 + 1) + 5) / (6 - 4)  [2 off]
Best: 639 = 6*(4*25 - 1) + 50 - 5


Round 4: T U S N E G O O C

I had NUTS, TUNES, COGENT, CONGEST, CONTUSE, and TONGUES.

The other sevens are OUTGOES, OUTGONE, ECONUTS, and CONGOUS (CONGOU: "a kind of black tea from China").

My selection: TONGUES


Round 5: E A D C S W R O I

I had DACE (a type of dish), was unsure about DACES (invalid, as the plural of DACE is explicitly given as DACE only), CASED, SCARED, COWARDS, and COWRIES.  I recognised that this mix shared a lot with the first round of the recent NG 574, and that there was an eight to be had if I excluded the W.  Happily, I recalled it in time, finding the eight of IDOCRASE (another name for the mineral vesuvianite).

IDOCRASE appears to be the only eight.  The other sevens are ROADIES, SIDECAR / CARDIES (CARDIE being colloquial for a cardigan) / RADICES (one plural form of RADIX: "a root"), WEIRDOS, CODEIAS, DOWRIES / ROWDIES (ROWDY: "a rough, disorderly person"), CROWEAS (CROWEA being a type of shrub), REDOWAS (REDOWA: "a Bohemian dance in two forms, the more common resembling the waltz or mazurka, the other resembling the polka"), and SCORIAE (plural of SCORIA) / ORACIES* (ORACY: "basic competence in oral communication").

My selection: IDOCRASE


Round 6: Target 342 from 50 9 4 2 4 7

I recognised the target as 9*38, and that led quickly to a solution of 342 = (50 - 2*4 - 4)*9.  After time I found a way to do it in the small numbers alone: 342 = ((4 + 2)*7 - 4)*9.

My selection: 342 = (50 - 2*4 - 4)*9


Round 7: E N O L F U R D I

I had LONE, FELON, FLOURED, and hoped for a final I; it arrived, and gave me FLUORIDE for eight.

The other eights are FLUORINE, FLOUNDER / UNFOLDER, and INFOLDER (INFOLD being a variant form of ENFOLD).  The other sevens are FOUNDER, FONDLER, UNFILED, UNFIRED, ROUNDEL ("something round or circular"), FLEURON ("an ornamental flower-like design, used in printing, architecture, pastry-garnishing, etc."), and DOURINE ("an infectious disease of horses [...]").

My selection: FLUORIDE


Round 8: Target 340 from 25 75 50 7 9 10

An easy numbers game to finish off; I started with 340 = 7*50 - 10, then found the slightly longer 340 = (50 - 9 - 7)*10.

My selection: 340 = 7*50 - 10


Round 9: CULL IAMBI

Alas, I was skipping through potential conundrums reasonably quickly here, and only gave this one eight seconds.  I probably would not have solved it within time regardless.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: UMBILICAL