NG 608

New game 608 is now available.

The re-run is episode 338; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: R A I P D S C I M

I had PAIR, PAIRS, and IMPAIRS.  After time I noted various sixes: IMPAIR, RAPIDS, CRAMPS, SCRIMP, and SCAMPI.

The other seven here is MIDAIRS.

My selection: IMPAIRS


Round 2: E T A I N E H T C

I had NEAT, ETHANE, and TECHIE.  After time I noted ETHNIC as another six, and confirmed that there was not such word as ETHNICATE.

There are two eights to be had: ECHINATE ("spiny; bristly") and ENTHETIC ("introduced from without, as diseases propagated by inoculation").  The sevens are TETANIC ("relating to, of the nature of, or characterised by tetanus") / NICTATE (variant form of NICTITATE: "wink") and THECATE ("having, or contained in, a theca"; a theca is "a case or receptacle").  I'll also note two more common sixes of ENTICE and INTACT.

My selection: ETHANE
Best: ECHINATE


Round 3: Target 453 from 25 6 10 3 8 3

Clearly time for the standard method.  I started with 453 = (10 + 8)*25 + 3 and then found a solution in small numbers alone with 453 = (6*8 - 3)*10 + 3.

Seen while writing this up is an alternative of the first approach: 453 = 3*6*25 + 3.

My selection: 453 = (6*8 - 3)*10 + 3


Round 4: A A R W U M R T A

I had AURA, WARM, and TRAUMA.

The other six is TAMARA ("a mixture of spices, especially cinnamon and cloves, used in Italian cookery"), but the seven is TAMARAU (a type of wild buffalo).

My selection: TRAUMA
Best: TAMARAU


Round 5: C F A E S O R C T

I had FACE, FACES, FORCES, FACTORS, was dubious about ACCOSTER (not valid), and FORECAST.

The other eight is ECTOSARC ("the ectoplasm of a protozoan (opposed to endosarc)").  The other seven is COASTER.  Some sources would allow COATERS, but not the Macquarie.

My selection: FORECAST


Round 6: Target 501 from 50 75 5 1 7 9

I wrote down the obvious fallback of 500 = (9 + 1)*50, and kept looking.  It seems so tempting to make this as 500 + 1 somehow, but I failed to get that to work.  At some point, though, I considered working up from 450 and found a working approach: 501 = 9*(50 + 5) + 7 - 1.  A bit after time I finally found the right route to 500 to make the desired approach work: 501 = (9 - 5)*(75 + 50) + 1.

There's several other solutions; perhaps the simplest is 501 = (9 - 7)*5*50 + 1.

My selection: 501 = 9*(50 + 5) + 7 - 1


Round 7: L S D A O N B O S

I had LADS, LOADS, BLONDS, and BASSOON.

There's some other sixes -- my favourite is SNOODS -- but the other sevens are SALOONS, DOOLANS (DOOLAN: "NZ Colloquial an Irish Catholic; a Roman Catholic"), and BOLSONS (BOLSON: "a broad and nearly flat mountain-rimmed desert basin with interior drainage").

My selection: BASSOON


Round 8: Target 242 from 75 9 1 5 7 4

The target is twice the square of eleven, but that did not prove to be of immediate use.  I turned my attention to starting with 3*75, and soon tweaked my way to a solution: 242 = (4 - 1)*(75 + 5) + 9 - 7.

My selection: 242 = (4 - 1)*(75 + 5) + 9 - 7


Round 9: WISE EPOCH

It took me a moderate while to move past -ISH and consider SHOW as a fragment.

My selection: SHOWPIECE (11.2s)