NG 634

New game 634 is now available.


Round 1: C S I N E T C E E

I had SINCE, INSECT, ENTICES, wished that the last consonant had been an N for SENTIENCE, and SCIENCE.

ENTICES and SCIENCE are the only sevens.  The other sixes are ENTICE, SCENIC, NICEST / INCEST, NIECES, and ECESIC (adjective derived from ECESIS: "the establishment of an immigrant plant in a new environment").

My selection: SCIENCE


Round 2: A S R P I T T G A

I had RAPS, PAIRS, TAPIRS, SATRAP ("a governor of a province under the ancient Persian monarchy"), ARTIST, TIARAS, and GRATIS.

The only seven in this mix is PARTITA ("Music an instrumental suite").  That, of course, also yields the only eight of PARTITAS.

My selection: TAPIRS
Best: PARTITAS


Round 3: Target 535 from 25 50 7 9 10 2

The 75-times tables were of obvious appeal here, leading directly to 535 = 7*(50 + 25) + 10.  Then I considered the option of 10*something +- 25; in this case, the something would need to be either 51 or 56.  The former was easier, giving an alternative solution of 535 = 10*(50 + (9 - 7)/2) + 25.

My selection: 535 = 7*(50 + 25) + 10


Round 4: E A E C N S H L R

I had CANE, ENCASE, ENCHASE, CLEANERS, CHARNEL ("a repository for dead bodies"), CHARNELS, and wondered about LEACHERS (not valid).

The remaining eight is CLEANSER.

My selection: CLEANERS


Round 5: D F U O A B R C G

I had DAUB, BROAD, and COUGAR.  In the last two letters I was hoping for an L for FOULARD (a type of silk) and then for the last letter I wanted a P for CUPBOARD.  No joy on either front, so six was the limit.

The other six here is FORBAD, variant spelling of FORBADE (past tense of FORBID).

My selection: COUGAR


Round 6: Target 794 from 25 8 10 7 1 4

The standard method is appealing, as usual, and gave me 794 = 8*4*25 - (7 - 1).

My selection: 794 = 8*4*25 - (7 - 1)


Round 7: S E D R M I T A E

I had REDS, MIRED, MISTER, READMITS, EMIRATES, STEAMIER, and MASTERED / STREAMED.

There are two full monties here: DREAMIEST / DIAMETERS.  Huh, I thought I looked at the -IEST ending.  Bother.

The other eights are DIAMETER, DEMERITS / DEMISTER / DIMETERS / MISTERED (MISTER as a verb meaning to call someone 'mister'), READIEST / STEADIER, and MEDIATES.

My selection: READMITS
Best: DREAMIEST


Round 8: Target 488 from 75 25 50 6 1 9

The target is 8*61, but that seemed difficult to use.  I struggles a bit, in fact, and for a while thought that I would have to use my fallback of 490 = 6*75 + 50 - 9 - 1.  One of the things that I had noticed was that I could get to 504 as 450 + 54, either with 9*(50 + 6) or 6*(75 + 9).  That is 16 away from the target, and once I realised that 16 is 25 - 9 then a tweak happily finished it off: 488 = 9*(50 + 6 + 1) - 25.

There is only one other solution to this.  It can be thought of as realised that the offset of 13 is also an offset of 63, and thus we want to make 425 + 63.  The 63 is 9*(6 + 1), which gives tweaking options with either 9 or 7; the former leads to the solution that I found, while the latter produces 488 = (6 + 1)*(50 + 9) + 75.

My selection: 488 = 9*(50 + 6 + 1) - 25


Round 9: SHYEST SIN

Another conundrum that I ended up choosing, although I forget what inspired it.

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