NG 615

New game 615 is now available.

The re-run is episode 345; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: L N B G H O A I M

I had LONG, HALON, BALING, and LAMBING / BLAMING / AMBLING.

The other sevens are HALOING, HOBNAIL, and LOAMING.

My selection: BLAMING


Round 2: D E F O N I S R O

I had DONE, FINED, FIENDS, FRIENDS, EROSION, and INDOORS.  After time I noted another seven of FOODIES.

Seven appears to be the limit here; the others are FINDERS / REDFINS (REDFIN being a type of fish), INDORSE / ROSINED, FORDOES, FORDONE, ODORISE / OROIDES (OROIDE: "an alloy containing copper, tin, etc., used to imitate gold"), SORDINO (a mute, in the sense of "a mechanical device [...] for muffling the tone of a musical instrument"), and DOOFERS (DOOFER being a variant spelling of DOOVER: "Colloquial any object (often used jocularly in place of the usual name)").

My selection: EROSION


Round 3: Target 743 from 75 50 3 5 4 7

The offset for the standard method is 7, which we have.  I started with 743 = 3*5*50 - 7 and then noted an alternative of 743 = (50/5)*75 - 7.

My selection: 743 = 3*5*50 - 7


Round 4: E D E K R N A T S

I had REED, ENDER, EARNED, NEAREST, TANKERS, DARKEST, DANKEST, and wondered about but ultimately rejected STARKENED (valid in Scrabble, as it turns out, but not in the Macquarie).

The eights to be had in this mix are STREAKED and KNEADERS.

My selection: NEAREST
Best: STREAKED


Round 5: L Y U R E S A X C

I had a dubious RULY (not valid), LURE, RULES, EARLY, an uncertain CALYXES (valid; the traditional plural would by CALYCES, but the Macquarie turns out to list both plural forms of CALYX: "Botany the outermost group of floral parts, usually green; the sepals"), and SECULAR / RECUSAL / CESURAL (adjective derived from CESURA, variant spelling of CAESURA: "English Prosody a break, especially a sense pause, usually near the middle of a verse, and marked in scansion by a double vertical line [...]").

The other seven is EXCUSAL.

My selection: SECULAR


Round 6: Target 203 from 2 1 10 5 4 6

My first thought was to get to 200, and I took the more complicated route and so needed a tweak: 203 = 2*(10*(6 + 4) - 1) + 5.  Then I noticed the simpler 203 = 4*5*10 + 2 + 1, and a bit later used the factorisation 7*29 for another solution of 203 = (2*10 + 5 + 4)*(6 + 1).

My selection: 203 = 4*5*10 + 2 + 1


Round 7: D O E P B C F U R

I had DOPE, COPED, COUPE, FORCED, and PRODUCE.

PRODUCE is the only seven.  The other sixes are BURPED, POURED, PROBED, CURBED, RECOUP / CROUPE (variant spelling of CROUP: "the rump or buttocks of certain animals, especially of a horse"), and UPBORE.

My selection: PRODUCE


Round 8: Target 694 from 75 100 50 9 7 7

Getting to 700 was straightforward, and I was pleased to spot a way to make the needed offset of 6: 694 = 7*100 - 9*50/75.  I switched tacks to working up from 675; the offset is 19, and a tweak turned out to finish it off: 694 = 9*(75 + 100/50) + 7/7.

My selection: 694 = 7*100 - 9*50/75


Round 9: RUIN VISTA

It took me a while to find the answer by pulling out the ANTI- fragment.  A tough one!

My selection: ANTIVIRUS (22.7s)