NG 619

New game 619 is now available.

The re-run is episode 349; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: I L T A O I C F P

I had TAIL, ITALIC, POLITIC, and TOPICAL / OPTICAL / CAPITOL.

The remaining seven in this mix is APLITIC (adjective derived from APLITE: "a fine-grained granite composed essentially of felspar and quartz").

My selection: TOPICAL


Round 2: I E A H B F U N T

I had BEAU, UNITE, UNFIT, and flirted with the idea of ENHABIT or UNFAITH, but was right to avoid both.

The seven that is here, though, is HABITUÉ ("a habitual frequenter of a place").  The sixes are AUNTIE, BUTANE, HENBIT (a type of weed), and BINATE ("Botany double; produced or born in pairs").

My selection: UNITE
Best: HABITUÉ


Round 3: Target 799 from 50 4 6 1 1 7

It's hard to go past making this as 16*50 - 1, and fortunately that worked: 799 = (7 + 6 + 4 - 1)*50 - 1.

My selection: 799 = (7 + 6 + 4 - 1)*50 - 1


Round 4: C S X E O S I E L

I had COXES, SIXES, ECXESS, was dubious about ICELESS (valid), and EXILES.  After time I spotted the sevens of SILEXES (SILEX: "flint; silica") and EXCISES.

The other sevens are COXLESS, SIÈCLES (SIÈCLE: "an age"), OSSICLE ("a small bone"), and LEXISES (LEXIS: "the vocabulary of a language, consisting of its stock of lexemes").

My selection: EXILES
Best: EXCISES


Round 5: D A N I I M O S E

I had MIND, NOMAD, DAIMON (variant spelling of DAEMON: "a subordinate deity [...]"), NOMADS, was rightly dubious about NOMADISE / NOMADIES (neither valid, but they did show up in the Scrabble list when I checked later), DAEMONS, and ANOMIES (ANOMIE: "a social vacuum marked by the absence of social norms or values").

The two eights to be had are DOMINIES (DOMINIE: "Chiefly Scottish a schoolmaster") and DIAMINES (DIAMINE: "a compound containing two amine groups").  There are several other sevens, such as DOMAINS, MAIDENS / SIDEMAN, IONISED, ANODISE, and others.

My selection: DAEMONS
Best: DOMINIES


Round 6: Target 855 from 25 5 10 5 8 9

The standard method says to make this as 25*34 + 5, but I had issues with making the 34.  (Seen while writing this up: 855 = ((9 + 8)*10/5)*25 + 5.)  So I looked at making this as either 830 + 25 or 880 - 25, except that I managed to miscalculate that I wanted 890 - 25 and so found ((5 + 5)*8 + 9)*10 - 25.  Fortunately I caught that issue, and found life simpler once I ignored the 25 entirely to get 855 = (9 + 8)*5*10 + 5.

After time I considered the factorisation 9*95 and found 855 = ((10 + 8)*5 + 5)*9 and 855 = (25 - 8 + 10/5)*5*9.

My selection: 855 = (9 + 8)*5*10 + 5


Round 7: R U L M N K O E D

I had LUNK, MOURN, MOURNED, and MOULDER.

The other sevens are REMOULD, ROUNDEL, and KNURLED.

My selection: MOURNED


Round 8: Target 845 from 25 3 2 5 1 8

Very much like the previous numbers round, this is 34*25 - 5.  This time I was able to get that to work, finding 845 = ((3 + 1)*8 + 2)*25 - 5.  Then I looked at the factorisation 5*169, getting 845 = ((8 - 1)*25 - 2*3)*5.

My selection: 845 = ((3 + 1)*8 + 2)*25 - 5


Round 9: MINER TERM

I chose this conundrum explicitly, but I'll note that -MENT is often worth a look.

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