NG 590

New game 590 is now available.

The re-run is episode 318; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: D T F O O P G H I

I had FOOT, HOTDOG, PHOTO, and FIGHT.

The other six is DHOOTI (variant spelling of DHOTI: "a traditional Indian garment for the lower part of the body, comprising a piece of cloth wrapped around the hips and passed loosely between the legs, worn in different styles in different regions").  The other fives are DHOTI, DIGHT ("Archaic to make ready; prepare"), DHOOP ("incense"), and TOPHI (plural of TOPHUS: "a calcareous concretion formed in the soft tissue about a joint, in the pinna of the ear, etc.").

My selection: HOTDOG


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

I had SATE, HATES, MAGNETS, SEGMENT, rightly rejected STAGEMEN, and GATEMEN.

The eight to be found here is METHANES.  The other sevens are METHANE, ETHANES, MEANEST, NEGATES, ANTHEMS / HETMANS (HETMAN: "a Cossack chief"), GAMETES, and MÉNAGES (MÉNAGE: "a household; a domestic establishment") / MANÈGES (MANÈGE: "a school for training horses and teaching equestrian skills").

My selection: SEGMENT
Best: METHANES


Round 3: Target 922 from 75 25 1 9 10 4

The clear first approach is to aim for 925 - (4 - 1).  I was not able to make that work, and wrote down a fallback one off 923 = 9*(75 + 25 + 1) + 10 + 4.  That was the best I could manage within time.  After time I considered working down from 1000, but again it was only good for one off with 921 = 4*(10*25 - 1) - 75.

The original idea was workable, if only I had persisted: 922 = 9*75 + 10*25 - (4 - 1).  The only other solution goes via 12*75, making the 12 in unexpected fashion to preserve some useful numbers: 922 = (25 - 9 - 4)*(75 + 1) + 10.

My selection: 923 = 9*(75 + 25 + 1) + 10 + 4
Best: 922 = 9*75 + 10*25 - (4 - 1)


Round 4: A A M B S B A R N

Ergh, not a helpful mix.  I had SAMBA, BARNS, and BARBS.

The sixes to be found here are BARMAN, ANABAS (a fish genus), SAMARA ("an indehiscent, usually one-seeded, winged fruit, as of the casuarina"), and SAMBAR (a type of deer).

My selection: BARNS
Best: BARMAN


Round 5: R R C N U E E T F

I had RECUR, CENTRE / RECENT, and FENCER.

The two sevens available in this mix are CURRENT and REFUTER.

My selection: CENTRE
Best: CURRENT


Round 6: Target 616 from 10 3 2 7 1 7

I started to go via 7*10*(7 + 2), then realised that I needed to tweak to get the remaining 14: 616 = ((7 + 2)*10 - (3 - 1))*7.  That revealed the factorisation 7*88, which I put to work another way: 616 = (10 + 1)*(7 + 3 - 2)*7.

My selection: 616 = (10 + 1)*(7 + 3 - 1)*7


Round 7: T S C S E A D I L

I had SECTS, CASTES, DILATES, was rightly dubious about ACIDLESS, CASTLES, and CITADELS / DIALECTS.

The other eights are ELASTICS / SCALIEST and CLADISTS (CLADIST being a noun derived from CLADISTICS: "Biology the method of determining phylogenetic relationships of organisms on the basis of monophyletic taxa").

My selection: DIALECTS


Round 8: Target 924 from 100 7 4 10 1 2

It seemed appropriate to work down from 1000, and a little experimentation produced 924 = 10*(100 - 7) - 4 - 2.  I also noted an alternative of 924 = 10*(100 - 7 - 1) + 4.

My selection: 924 = 10*(100 - 7 - 1) + 4


Round 9: CUES RIVER

The -IVE fragment is worth investigating, and in this case it guided me to RECURSIVE.

My selection: RECURSIVE (2.4s)