NG 610

New game 610 is now available.

The re-run is episode 340; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.  And make sure to catch Monday's game, as it should be Sam's debut appearance.


Round 1: E R T D M A N H O

I had TERM, DREAM, MOTHER, RANDOM, and MORDANT ("caustic or sarcastic, as wit, a speaker, etc.").  After time I noted THRONED as another seven.

Seven turns out to be the limit on this mix, with the others being ANOTHER, DORMANT, ROADMEN, THORNED, MENORAH, and MORDENT ("a melodic embellishment consisting of a rapid alternation of a principal note with a supplementary note a semitone below it [...]").

My selection: MORDANT


Round 2: K O F P T I A C O

I had PATIO and OPTIC / TOPIC.  For a moment I thought that TAPIOCA was available, but that duplicates the wrong vowel.  After time I noted two other fives of COATI and OKAPI.

The sixes here are ATOPIC (adjective derived from ATOPY: "a genetic tendency to develop allergic reactions"), OCTOPI (there is a note pointing out that this is etymologically nonsense, but they still list it since it is used moderately often), and KATIPO ("a venomous New Zealand spider [...]").

My selection: PATIO
Best: KATIPO


Round 3: Target 388 from 100 3 1 1 2 8

The standard method says to work down from 400, and the offset of 12 is also divisible by 4.  Those observations soon led to the solution 388 = (8/2)*(100 - 3).

My selection: (8/2)*(100 - 3)


Round 4: N O E D S F G O I

I had DONE, NODES, DOSING, and was uncertain about DINGOES.  I eventually decided against it, and that was the wrong decision -- both DINGOS and DINGOES are listed as acceptable.

There is an eight to be had here: GOONDIES (GOONDIE being a variant spelling of GOONDY: "an Aboriginal hut or gunyah").  The other sevens are GOONDIE, FOODIES, GOODIES, and NOOGIES.

My selection: DOSING
Best: GOONDIES


Round 5: C T E E L I N B S

I had ELECT, ENTICE, and ENTICES.

The eights are TENSIBLE ("capable of being stretched") / STILBENE (a certain chemical).  The other sevens are CLIENTS / STENCIL / LECTINS (LECTIN: "a naturally occurring protein found in legumes and grains [...]"), SILENCE / LICENSE, TENSILE, SELENIC ("of or containing selenium [...]"), and SECTILE ("capable of being cut smoothly by a knife").

My selection: ENTICES
Best: TENSIBLE


Round 6: Target 523 from 75 100 10 5 6 6

The first goal was to get to 525, and once that was done the remaining numbers happily cooperated to give the offset of 2: 523 = 6*100 - 75 - 10/5.

My selection: 523 = 6*100 - 75 - 10/5


Round 7: D N L M N O P E I

I had LEMON, PINNED, and IMPLODE.

IMPLODE is the only seven, and the best to be done.  There were more potential sixes than I felt like checking on.

My selection: IMPLODE


Round 8: Target 558 from 25 100 7 4 10 4

I noted that the offset from 600 was 42, which was divisible by 7.  I then overcomplicated things by working down from 700, but got there nonetheless with 558 = 7*(100 - (10 - 4)) - 4*25.

After time I spotted the rather simpler 558 = (10 - 4)*(100 - 7).

My selection: 558 = 7*(100 - (10 - 4)) - 4*25


Round 9: LEAD CASTE

Another case of -ED being useful.

My selection: ESCALATED (2s)