NG 612

New game 612 is now available.

The re-run is episode 342; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: O T E I A M S S T

I had IOTA, ATOM, MATES, TOASTIES, ATOMISES, and ATOMISTS.

The other eights are MOISTEST, MISSTATE, and SOMATISE ("to convert psychological distress into physical disorders, usually to gain attention, elicit sympathy, etc.").  There were more potential sevens than I felt like checking (but each of my eights could drop its final S to get a seven, of course).

My selection: ATOMISES


Round 2: P O N L B I S I A

I had LION, LIONS, ALIBIS, and LIAISON.  After time I noted another seven of ALBINOS.

The remaining seven is SINOPIA ("a red-brown earth pigment")

My selection: LIAISON


Round 3: Target 892 from 50 100 7 10 9 6

The standard method is quite tempting, although it took a little effort to make the eight after the obvious start: 892 = 9*100 - 7 - 6 + 50/10.  Then I noticed that the offset from 850 was 42, leading to 892 = 9*100 - 50 + 6*7.

Seen while writing this up is another solution of 892 = 6*(100 + 50) - (7 + 10 - 9).

My selection: 892 = 9*100 - 50 + 6*7


Round 4: E U E N T D P H B

I had TUNE, TUNED, PUNTED, HUNTED, and BUNTED.

Six is the limit here, with the others being DEPUTE, BUTENE, and DETUNE ("to adjust a high-performance engine, as in a racing car, so that its performance is reduced but its suitability for general use is increased").

My selection: PUNTED


Round 5: A U K A N F E S T

I had KANA, FUNK, SNAKE, FAKEST, noted that adjusting the F to an E would allow NAUSEATE, and FASTEN.

The seven to be had here is KAFTANS.

My selection: FASTEN


Round 6: Target 607 from 75 50 1 2 2 10

My first thought was to get close with 8*75, and that got me to one off with 608 = (10 - 2)*(75 + 1).  Then I considered working up from 575, and the offset of 32 was handily formable with a tweak: 607 = (50 + 2 + 1)*10 + 75 + 2.

My selection: 607 = (50 + 2 + 1)*10 + 75 + 2


Round 7: V C R N O M E E E

I had CORN, COVER, and REMOVE.

Annoyingly, the two sevens that I had considered and rejected (not even bothering to write them down) turned out to be valid: OVERMEN and VENOMER.

The other sixes are ENCORE, EVENER (as a noun) / VENEER, MOREEN ("a heavy fabric of wool, or wool and cotton, commonly watered, used for curtains, petticoats, etc."), and CORVÉE ("labour, as of the repair of roads, exacted by a feudal lord").

My selection: REMOVE


Round 8: Target 238 from 7 9 6 6 7 2

My first goal was to get somewhere close, and then adjust.  The target was near 6*40, and I could get near 40 with 6*7.  So that gave me 6*6*7 = 252 as an intermediate.  The offset is 14, which could have been made from the rest of the numbers, but I used the tweak instead: 238 = (6*6 - 2)*7.  That highlighted the factorisation 7*34, which is also 14*17; I used the latter form to get 238 = (9 + 6 + 2)*(7 + 7).

My selection: 238 = (6*6 - 2)*7


Round 9: THWACK PRO

I chose this conundrum.  With only two vowels, the answer is almost certainly a compound word.  The key is to discard -CK as a fragment and find WORK, and then the answer of PATCHWORK should leap out.

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