NG 586

New game 586 is now available.

The re-run is episode 314; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: F Y E U L D S O I

I had a dubious FLUEY (valid, to my surprise -- both as derived from FLU, and from FLUE in the sense of "downy matter; fluff"), FUEL, FOULED, and SULFIDE.  I also observed that a T instead of the F would allow TEDIOUSLY, and that DELOUSIFY was there but probably not a word.  After time I noted some other sixes of STUDIO, YIELDS, and FIELDS.

SULFIDE is the only seven, and the best to be done.

My selection: SULFIDE


Round 2: E C A E N R O S L

I had CANE, CRANE, COARSEN, CEREALS, ORACLES, and rightly rejected CENSORAL.  A little after time I finally saw the eights of CLEANERS / CLEANSER.

Those turn out to be the only eights.  I was a little disappointed that ENSORCEL was not valid, but it is, of course, properly spelled with two L's.

My selection: ORACLES
Best: CLEANERS


Round 3: Target 329 from 100 25 75 3 8 10

Applying the standard method got me to one away with 328 = 10*25 + 75 + 3.  I was not able to better that within time, although the option of 332 - 3 did look provocative.  Afterwards I did manage to make that work, though, with 329 = (100/25)*(75 + 8) - 3.

Seen while writing this up was another alternative: The target is 320 + 9, with 320 being (100/25)*8*10 and 9 being 3*75/25.  There is a common division by 25, leading to the Sam-like 329 = (8*10*100 + 3*75)/25.  I'd certainly have loved to declare that on the show.

My selection: 328 = 10*25 + 75 + 3  [1 off]
Best: 329 = (100/25)*(75 + 8) - 3


Round 4: K R H D A T R O E

I had DARK, HOARD, THREAD, TARRED, and HOARDER.

The other seven is KATHODE (variant spelling of CATHODE).

My selection: HOARDER


Round 5: R M N I S T E E R

I had RIMS, TRIMS, INSERT, and MERRIEST / TRIREMES (a TRIREME being an ancient ship with three banks of oars).

The other eights are INSERTER / REINSERT / TERRINES / REINTERS / RENTIERS (RENTIER: "someone who has a fixed unearned income, as from rent, interest on bonds, etc.") and RIMESTER (variant spelling of RHYMESTER: "a maker of rhyme or verse, especially of an inferior order").

My selection: TRIREMES


Round 6: Target 608 from 75 2 1 3 8 9

An easy tweak if familiar with the 75-times table: 608 = 8*(75 + 1).  There are easy untweaked versions, too.

My selection: 608 = 8*(75 + 1)


Round 7: A B F D O S E P C

I had FADS, ABODES, and PEASCOD (variant spelling of PEASECOD: "the pod of the pea").  I also observed that PO-FACED ("Colloquial conveying one's displeasure in one's disapproving expression") was there, but the hyphen is required.

The Macquarie has SOFA BED as two words, so PEASCOD is the only seven.

My selection: PEASCOD


Round 8: Target 458 from 75 25 8 7 2 9

Partly influenced by the previous numbers round, I spent a while trying to make this as 6*75 + 8 without success.  Fortunately I then realised that 9*50 was much simpler, and so found 458 = 9*(75 - 25) + 8.  After time I noted the variant 458 = 2*9*25 + 8.

My selection: 458 = 9*(75 - 25) + 8


Round 9: TIRE INLAY

I spent longer than I should have looking at -LY before I turned my attention to -ITY and found the answer of LINEARITY.

My selection: LINEARITY (13.6s)