NG 603

New game 603 is now available.

The re-run is episode 333.  Its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: S T K D C T I E E

I had a speculative STACKED (but the A did not arrive), STICK, STICKED (a bit of prescience, arguably, since that first turned up on the show in episode 334, tomorrow's re-run), TICKETS, and TICKETED.

The other eight is DISKETTE, another name for a floppy disk.  It's been a while since I've seen one of those, come to think about it.  The other sevens are DETECTS and DECEITS.

My selection: TICKETED


Round 2: B L A I S A A D S

Bleah, too many A's.  I had BAIL, BAILS, BALSA, LABIAS (not valid -- LABIA is already plural), and SALADS.  Fortunately I went with the valid six this time.

Six is the best to be done.  The other sixes are BALSAS, ASSAIL, and BASILS.

My selection: SALADS


Round 3: Target 118 from 50 75 100 25 5 8

Making a 7 seems difficult, so working down from 125 is not attractive.  So I shifted to working up from 100 and found 118 = 100 + 5*50/25 + 8.  Then I realised that I could make the 7 after all, and found the alternative solution of 118 = 75 + 50 - 8/(100/25) - 5.

My selection: 100 + 5*50/25 + 8


Round 4: H E N S T I R S U

I had HENS, wondered about THENS (it is listed as having a noun sense, so it should be all right), THINE, SHINER, SHINERS, amused myself with HURTINESS (not valid), HUNTERS, and SHUNTERS.  After time I noted another eight of HUNTRESS.

The other eights are INRUSHES and RUSHIEST.  The other sevens are SHUNTER, SUNRISE / INSURES, INSERTS / SINTERS (SINTER: "Metallurgy to bring about the agglomeration of particles of a metal (or other substance as glass or carbides) by heating [...] to just below the melting point of the substance [...]"), HINTERS, SHRINES, UNRESTS, UNITERS, TUSHIES, and HIRSUTE ("hairy").

My selection: SHUNTERS


Round 5: P L N E M E O A T

I had PEEL, MELON, and POLENTA.  All food terms!  I also had been hoping for a final D for PADEMELON, but no such luck.

The eight to be had here is ANTELOPE.  The other sevens are EMPANEL / EMPLANE, and a trio that I used to know quite well for the purposes of this game but did not see this time: LOMENTA (plural of LOMENTUM: "a dry fruit derived from one carpel which breaks up transversely into one-seeded segments at maturity") / OMENTAL (adjective derived from OMENTUM: "a fold or duplication of the peritoneum passing between certain of the viscera [...]") / TELAMON ("a figure of a man used like a supporting column").

My selection: POLENTA
Best: ANTELOPE


Round 6: Target 332 from 50 100 75 2 8 3

I flailed around for a little, then realised that I wanted to make the 32 as 4*8.  To make the 4 I needed the 100 and 50, and that prompted me to the happy realisation that I could make the 300 as 4*75.  That thus gave me the solution 332 = (100/50)*2*(75 + 8).

Then I played around a bit with the descent from 350; the offset is 18, which is 3*6, and again this is fertile tweaking territory.  The resulting solution was 332 = 3*(100 - (8 - 2)) + 50.

My selection: 332 = (100/50)*2*(75 + 8)


Round 7: I L E N E T G D O

I had LINE, INTEL, TINGLE, DELETING, TINGLED, and LENTOID ("having the shape of a biconvex lens").  After time I noted another eight of DELETION.

The other eight is ELOIGNED (ELOIGN: "to remove (oneself) to a distance").  The other sevens are ELOINED (ELOIN being a variant spelling of ELOIGN), GLINTED, GENTILE, GENTLED, DELEING (DELE: "(usually imperative) to take out; omit; delete (generally represented by a symbol"), DOLENTE ("(a musical direction) sadly; plaintively"), INGOTED, GLENOID ("shallow or slightly cupped, as the articular cavities of the scapula"), and LENTIGO ("freckle").

My selection: DELETING


Round 8: Target 654 from 50 8 4 2 4 3

The target is clearly 6*109, but that does not seem too useful.  But the standard method should be the more desirable, of course, with the offset of 4 already to hand.  The cofactor is 13, and that leads to 654 = (8 + 2 + 3)*50 + 4.

My selection: 654 = (8 + 2 + 3)*50 + 4


Round 9: SKI TENNIS

I got hung up on STINK- for a while, but eventually considered -IEST and so found SKINNIEST.

My selection: SKINNIEST (11.9s)