NG 591

New game 591 is now available.

The re-run is episode 319; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: A N C T O E M C E

I had CANT, CANTO, ACCENT, noted that MECCANO was there but expected it to be proper if it were even listed (as it turns out, MECCANO SET is listed as lowercase, but MECCANO on its own is not there), and ACETONE.

ACETONE turns out to be the only seven, and the best to be done.

My selection: ACETONE


Round 2: A I O R E S L T B

I had RAISE, SAILOR, ISOLATE, STABILE  / BESTIAL, BLOATERS (BLOATER being at type of cured herring), and LIBRATES (LIBRATE: "oscillate; sway").  After time I noted SORTABLE as another eight.

My word list suggested two possible nines here: LABORITES, and STROBILAE.  Unfortunately, LABORITE is proper, and no special plural form of STROBILA is listed.  However, one that it did not list is ORBITALES (ORBITALE: "Anatomy the lowermost point on the lower margin of the left orbit [...]"; in this context "orbit" means an eye socket -- I'm not sure why the left one gets singled out like this).

So, ORBITALES is the full monty here.  The other eights are ORBITALE, STORABLE, STROBILA ("a segmented structure produced by transverse fission, such as the entire body of a tapeworm [...]"), and STROBILE (variant form of STROBILUS: "(in plants) a compact reproductive structure consisting of a central axis bearing either simple sporophylls, as in club-mosses and male cones of conifers, or compound scales bearing ovules as in female cones of conifers").

The big surprise to me is that ORBITAL is not listed as a noun, so ORBITALS is not valid.  It is only listed as an adjective and as part of several compound nouns: ORBITAL ELECTRON, ORBITAL ENGINE, ORBITAL INDEX, ORBITAL PERIOD, and ORBITAL VELOCITY.  Certainly I would feel very hard done by as a consistent if I had tried ORBITALS and been rejected.

My selection: LIBRATES
Best: ORBITALES


Round 3: Target 164 from 8 9 3 4 5 2

The target is 4*41, and I went with 164 = (9*5 - 4)*8/2.  Then I considered 2*8*9 = 144 as a stepping stone; the offset is 20, leading to 164 = 2*8*9 + 4*5.  After time I noted yet another solution of 164 = 9*5*4 - 2*8.

My selection: 164 = (9*5 - 4)*8/2


Round 4: C O O O S I N T G

I had COOS, COINS, SOOTING, TONICS, and COSTING.

The eight that I missed is SCOOTING.  The other seven is GNOSTIC ("relating to knowledge").

My selection: COSTING
Best: SCOOTING


Round 5: R E M U A R M S F

I had REAM, RAMMER, was dubious about SMARMER (not valid), SUMMER, and FARMERS.

The other sevens are FRAMERS, RAMMERS, and RUMMERS (RUMMER: "a large drinking glass or cup typically of a heavy goblet shape").

My selection: FARMERS


Round 6: Target 393 from 50 25 2 4 3 1

The standard method says to make this as 400 - 7, and the 400 is clearly 2*4*50.  Making the 7 is then easy enough with a tweak: 393 = 4*(2*50 - 1) - 3.

My selection: 393 = 4*(2*50 - 1) - 3


Round 7: E U R I B S H Q D

I had BIER, BURIES, SQUIRED, BRUISED, BISQUE, and BUSHIER.

The other seven is BRUSHED.

My selection: BRUISED


Round 8: Target 810 from 75 25 10 9 5 4

Making this as 9*90 seemed like a reasonable plan, and I noted that I could do so in small numbers alone: 810 = 9*10*(5 + 4).

My selection: 810 = 9*10*(5 + 4)


Round 9: TENT DUELS

Despite the UN- and -ED fragments, it took me over eight seconds to find the answer of UNSETTLED.

My selection: UNSETTLED (8.6s)