NG 606

New game 606 is now available.

The re-run is episode 336; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: T I P E E F G N O

I had FEET, OPINE, POINT, PEEING, and OPTING.  I briefly wondered about POETING, but it is not valid (as expected).  After time I noted POINTE as another six.

The seven to be found here is EPIGONE ("an inferior imitator or follower of an important writer, painter, etc.").  The other sixes are EPIGON (variant spelling of EPIGONE) / PIGEON, TEEING, TOEING, FEEING (FEE as a verb: "to give a fee to"), FETING, PONGEE ("a silk of a plain weave made from filaments of wild silk woven in natural tan colour"), TOPING (TOPE: "to consume alcoholic drink habitually and to excess"), and POTEEN ("illicit distilled whisky").

My selection: OPTING
Best: EPIGONE


Round 2: A T E N S C L E G

I had NEAT, STANCE, LANCETS, TANGLES, and CLEANEST.  I also noted that an R instead of the S would have allowed RECTANGLE.  After time I noted another seven of ELEGANT.

The other eight is NEGLECTS.  There's more potential sevens than I felt like checking, so I'll just mention some of the more common ones: GLANCES, NEGATES, NEGLECT, TENACES, and LEANEST.

My selection: CLEANEST


Round 3: Target 859 from 25 100 75 10 3 5

I flailed around for a while, but could not manage better than one away with 860 = (5 + 3)*100 + 75 - 25 + 10.

It turns out that this target is reachable, but there's only one solution.  That requires making it as 2577/3; put that way, it is actually easy to find the solution: 859 = (25*100 + 75 + 10/5) / 3.  The trick is to think of that approach in the first place!

My selection: 860 = (5 + 3)*100 + 75 - 25 + 10  [1 off]
Best: 859 = (25*100 + 75 + 10/5) / 3


Round 4: E B A K S C E N N

I had BAKE, BAKES, rightly rejected ENCAKES, and SEANCE / ENCASE.

The seven here is ABSENCE.  Huh, I even looked at -ENCE but still missed that.  The other six is BENNES (BENNE being another name for sesame sesame).

My selection: SEANCE
Best: ABSENCE


Round 5: F E Y H A E I M D

I had FAME, FAMED, and MEDIA.  After time I finally saw DEFAME; I really should have seen that!

The other six was also painfully close: MEDIAE (plural of MEDIA in the sense of "(in various scientific uses) something medial").  There's various other fives, of which I'll just mention AIMED, HEADY, and EDIFY / DEIFY.

My selection: MEDIA
Best: DEFAME


Round 6: Target 410 from 50 3 7 2 1 8

The standard method works very handily here, quickly giving 410 = 8*50 + 7 + 3.

My selection: 410 = 8*50 + 7 + 3


Round 7: R S M A O B L I A

I had ARMS, ROAMS, SOLARIA, LABORS, MORALS / MOLARS, BALSAM / SAMBAL, and then was quite happy to spot the eight of AMBROSIA.  I was even happier when I realised that I could extend it to AMBROSIAL for the nine.

AMBROSIAL and AMBROSIA are the only nine and eight, respectively.  The other sevens are BAILORS, BROMALS (BROMAL being a certain chemical), BASILAR ("related to or situated at the base, especially the base of the skull"), and AMBARIS (AMBARI being a variant spelling of AMBARY, an Indian plant).  Some sources would allow ABOMASI, presumably as the plural of ABOMASUS (listed as a variant form of ABOMASUM: "the fourth or true stomach of ruminants, lying next to the omasum"); however, the Macquarie does not list such a plural form (nor does my Chambers, for that matter).

My selection: AMBROSIAL


Round 8: Target 729 from 50 100 25 9 4 7

The target is the square of 27, but I applied the standard method first to get 729 = 7*100 + 25 + 4.  Then I went back to that factorisation to get 729 = (25 + 100/50)*9*(7 - 4).

My selection: 729 = (25 + 100/50)*9*(7 - 4)


Round 9: ION CYCLES

I chose this after being presented with the similar, but not listed, INSOLENCY.

My selection: [N/A -- chosen]
Best: CONCISELY