NG 584

New game 584 is now available.

The re-run is episode 312; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: D S O S R C N U I

I had SODS, DROSS, wroted down speculative options of CROSSED and then CONSIDERS (but the E never arrived), ROUNDS, SCORNS, and CURIOS.  After time I noted that DISCOURSE was nearly there, and a bit later found the seven of UNCROSS.

The other sevens are COUSINS and DURIONS (DURION being a variant spelling of DURIAN, a type of fruit).

My selection: SCORNS
Best: UNCROSS


Round 2: H N A T M G E O T

I had THAN, THANE, HOMAGE, and MONTAGE / MAGNETO / MEGATON.

The other seven is TOMENTA (plural of TOMENTUM: "pubescence consisting of longish, soft, entangled hairs pressed close to the surface").

My selection: MONTAGE


Round 3: Target 716 from 25 1 2 6 10 4

I flailed around somewhat unproductively for a while; the idea of starting with 28*25 to get to 700 seemed reasonable, but further adjustments proved difficult.  I wrote down a fallback two off using that approach: 714 = (25*(10 + 4) + 6 + 1)*2, and was not able to better it within time.

I had considered the factorisation 4*179, but it took me until a little after time to make that work, when I found 716 = ((25 - 10)*2*6 - 1)*4.  Then I considered 720 - 4 as an option, and that really should have been more tempting from the start -- 720 has so many useful factors.  720 is 10*72, and 72 is near 3*25... a little thought turned all that into a solution of 716 = (6/2)*(25 - 1)*10 - 4.

While writing this up I found another way to get 4*179: 179 is near 7*25, and the remaining 4 could be 2*7 - 10.  Putting that together yields 716 = ((6 + 1)*(25 + 2) - 10)*4.

My selection: 714 = (25*(10 + 4) + 6 + 1)*2  [2 off]
Best: 716 = (6/2)*(25 - 1)*10 - 4


Round 4: O S T S A S P E T

I had TOSS, OASTS (OAST: "a kiln for drying hops or malt"), and recalled thinking that unless the last letter was a T I was going to struggle.  It was a T, though, and so I had TEAPOTS for seven.  I also noted that if one of those S's had been an H then POSTHASTE would have been available.

The other sevens are POSSETS (POSSET: "a drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or the like, often sweetened and spiced"), SAPOTES (SAPOTE being a type of tree), TASSETS (TASSET: "one of a pair of pieces of armour for the upper thighs suspended from the waist plates by straps"), and PSOASES (PSOAS: "a muscle of the loin [...]").

My selection: TEAPOTS


Round 5: I O L E F C E K P

I had FILE, FICKLE, PICKLE, POLICE, and ICEFLOE.

ICEFLOE is the only seven.  The other sixes are FOLKIE and KELPIE.

My selection: ICEFLOE


Round 6: Target 829 from 25 3 8 8 1 3

The target is 4 away from 11*75; my first attempt thus got me to one off with 828 = 3*((8 + 3)*25 + 1).  Then I realised that the approach of 832 - 3 was quite tempting; 832 is 8*104, which is 8*4*26.  Although both the 4 and 26 require using a 1 (which we only have one of), combining that with the 8's sorts out the difficulty, giving 829 = (3 + 1)*(8*25 + 8) - 3 and 829 = (3*8 + 8)*(25 + 1) - 3.

My selection: 829 = (3 + 1)*(8*25 + 8) - 3


Round 7: S I M L U E O I M

I had SLIM, MILES, MUESLI (I always get a bit confused about whether it is MUESLI or MEUSLI, but I managed to settle on the correct spelling this time), and SIMILE.

The seven here is MILIEUS.  The other sixes are MILIEU, OSMIUM, OLEUMS (OLEUM being another name for fuming sulfuric acid), and MILIUM ("a small white or yellowish nodule resembling a millet seed, produced in the skin by the retention of a sebaceous secretion").

My selection: SIMILE
Best: MILIEUS


Round 8: Target 476 from 75 50 100 25 9 9

I wrote down the straightforward 475 = 9*50 + 25, but could not improve it within time.  It took a goodly while afterwards before I looked properly at the factorisation; the target is 4*119, which is thus 4*7*17.  One way of partitioning that is 7*68, leading to a solution of 476 = ((100 + 75)/25)*(50 + 9 + 9).

There is only one other solution, making the target as 576 - 100.  576 is the square of 24, which is thus 64*9.  That observation yields 476 = 9*(75 - 9 - 50/25) - 100.

My selection: 475 = 9*50 + 25  [1 off]
Best: 476 = ((100 + 75)/25)*(50 + 9 + 9)


Round 9: CITY SHIPS

The -ITY option did not seem to go anywhere, and so I turned to PSYCH-; that was not quite right, but it got me close enough to find PHYSICIST at last.

My selection: PHYSICIST (10.8s)