NG 596

New game 596 is now available.

The re-run is episode 326; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: S O A N S R A G R

I had SONS, ARSONS / SONARS, ORGANS / GROANS / ARGONS, and SARONGS.  After time I noted that turning one of those A's into an I would yield GARRISONS.

The other seven available is ANGORAS.

My selection: SARONGS


Round 2: M W T R E F I O U

Ergh, what a mix.  The letters feel mostly reasonable (except for that W), but they just don't come together nicely.  I had TERM, TIMER, and rightly rejected OUTFIRE.

The six(es) here are FUMIER and TOWIER*, and that is the best to be done.  I've been surprised before that TWOFER is not in the Macquarie, and that happened again here while checking up on it.  As an aside, we nearly had the eight of FREMITUS ("a vibration of the body perceptible on palpitation").

My selection: TIMER
Best: FUMIER


Round 3: Target 712 from 100 7 6 7 3 8

Applying the standard method left four small numbers to make the remaining 12, and that was always very likely to work.  In this case, I went with 712 = 7*100 + 7 + 8 - 3.

My selection: 712 = 7*100 + 7 + 8 - 3


Round 4: P A K T R E T I F

I had PARK, TAKER, PIRATE, PATTER, FATTIER, and PARTITE ("divided into parts").

FATTIER and PARTITE are the only sevens, and the best to be done.

My selection: FATTIER


Round 5: H C I L I E O S T

I had CHILI, was uncertain about CHILIS (not valid -- the plural is explicitly given as CHILIES), was similarly uncertain about CHILIES (valid), CLOTHES, and then was pleased to spot HOLISTIC.

The other eight is EOLITHIC ("denoting or relating to the earliest stage of human culture, characterised by the use of amorphouse stone implements").

The other sevens are EOLITHS (EOLITH: "a crude flint implement characteristic of the earliest stage of human culture, shaped by, rather than for, use") / HOLIEST / HOSTILE, COLTISH, ELICITS, SOLICIT / COLITIS ("inflammation of the mucus membrane of the colon"; also used in one of the better-known mondegreens), OILIEST / IOLITES (IOLITE being another name for the mineral CORDIERITE), LITCHIS (LITCHI being a variant spelling of LYCHEE), and CITOLES (CITOLE being given in the Macquarie as a variant name for two different instruments, the cittern and the kithara).

My selection: HOLISTIC


Round 6: Target 816 from 100 8 7 6 5 10

Much like the first numbers round, with four small numbers to make the offset of 16 we're in good shape.  I started with 816 = 8*100 + 10 + 6, then looked at factorisations.  The target is 8*102, which is easy enough to use.  It is thus also 16*51, and after a moment I realised that let me solve it with the small numbers alone: 816 = (10 + 6)*(8*7 - 5).

My selection: 816 = (10 + 6)*(8*7 - 5)


Round 7: R A I E G T N B D

I had RAGE, GREAT, TEARING, BERATING, and DEBATING.  After time I noted some other eights of BREADING / BEARDING and REBATING.

The remaining eights are TREADING / REDATING / GRADIENT.

My selection: DEBATING


Round 8: Target 210 from 25 75 100 2 2 6

Again we are close to a multiple of 100.  I noted two tweaked solutions: 210 = 2*(100 + 2) + 6 and 210 = 2*(100 + 6) - 2.

My selection: 210 = 2*(100 + 6) - 2


Round 9: SPOOK CRAB

My time here is a second or two slower than it should be, as I revealed the conundrum and immediately picked something up.  Rather careless of me; I'm not sure why I did that.  Anyway, the -OOK fragment is provocative, and pulling out BOOK soon led to the answer of SCRAPBOOK.

My selection: SCRAPBOOK (5.3s)