NG 618

New game 618 is now available.

The re-run is episode 348; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: S O A U L F T T I

I had SOUL, FOALS, FAULTS, hoped for a final E for FALSETTO, but the actual I gave me FLAUTIST.  I also wondered about LIFTOUTS, but later checking confirmed my suspicion that only the hyphenated form would be listed.

FLAUTIST is the only eight.  The sevens are FLUTIST (variant form of FLAUTIST), OUTFITS, OUTLAST, OUTSAIL, and FISTULA ("a narrow passage or duct formed by congenital abnormality or by disease or injury [...]").

My selection: FLAUTIST


Round 2: M A O S U O W L R

I had SOMA ("the body of an organism as contrasted with its germ cells"), ROOMS, MORALS, MORULA ( "the mass of cells, supposedly resembling a mulberry, resulting from the cleavage of the ovum before the formation of a blastula"), and AMOROUS.

The other seven is ORMOLUS (ORMOLU: "an alloy of copper and zinc, used to imitate gold"; also "gold prepared for use in gilding" and "gilded metal").  There's various sixes, of which I'll just mention WALRUS.

My selection: AMOROUS


Round 3: Target 162 from 75 7 9 7 5 6

Huh, 162 again.  It's 9*18, hence 162 = (7 + 6 + 5)*9.  Switching tacks, it is also 162 = (75 + 6)*(9 - 7).

My selection: 162 = (7 + 6 + 5)*9


Round 4: E A T D B R N O P

I had DATE, BATED, RANTED, BARONET, PROBATED, and PRONATED.  After time I noted some other sevens of ABORTED / BORATED, PRONATE, and PROBATE.

Those are the only eights listed, and there's various other sevens.

My selection: PRONATED


Round 5: G E O O P R H R I

I had GROPE, GROPER, POORER, was dubious about HOOPIER (not valid), and also uncertain about GOOPIER* (only valid under the revised rules).

The other sixes are GOPHER, GRIPER, GORIER, ROPIER, and GOOIER / GOORIE (variant spelling of KURI: "one of an extinct breed of New Zealand dogs").

My selection: POORER
Best (with revised rules): GOOPIER*


Round 6: Target 204 from 100 50 25 10 2 9

I first used the factor of 2 to get 204 = 2*(100 + 50/25), then the factor of 4 to get 204 = (100/25)*(50 + 10 - 9).

My selection: 204 = 2*(100 + 50/25)


Round 7: T U E R B G E S S

I had TRUE, BRUTE, BRUTES, BUSTERS, EGRETS, saw SUBTREES which would be valid in computer science but would not be in the Macquarie, and GUESSER.

The eight in this mix is GESTURES.  The other sevens are GESTURE, REBUSES, GUTSERS, BURGEES (BURGEE: "a swallow-tailed flag or pennant, in the merchant service generally bearing the ship's name"), and BURGESS ("an inhabitant, especially a citizen or freeman, of an English borough").

My selection: BUSTERS
Best: GESTURES


Round 8: Target 279 from 75 7 6 5 8 9

I noted down a one-off 280 = 7*5*8, then spotted what felt like the unusal option of working down from 375.  The offset is 96, handily formable, and the resulting solution was 279 = 5*75 - (9 + 7)*6.  Then I went with the factorisation 9*31 and found a solution in small numbers alone; in fact, it uses the numbers in ascending order: 279 = (5*6 - 7 + 8)*9.

My selection: 279 = 5*75 - (9 + 7)*6


Round 9: PACKING IN

Just a little rearrangement needed to produce the answer of PANICKING.

My selection: PANICKING (2.5s)