NG 652

New game 652 is now available.


Round 1: G U E I B P T N S

I had GIBE, TUBING, BUSTING, and BUNGIES (BUNGIE being another name for the silver fern).

The other sevens are BESTING, PUNIEST / PUNTIES (plural of PUNTY: "an iron rod used in glassmaking for handling the hot glass"), TUBINGS, and PIGNUTS.

My selection: BUSTING


Round 2: N A T D I O C E R

Good letters, although I kept getting distracted by the overlong INDOCTRINATE.  I had DINT, ACTION, ACONITE, ACTIONED, DOCTRINE / CENTROID, and ORDINATE / RATIONED.  After time I noted other eights of CERATOID and CREATION / REACTION.

There's only one other eight: TORNADIC.  But there is a nine to be had, as it felt like there might be: REDACTION.

My selection: DOCTRINE
Best: REDACTION


Round 3: Target 472 from 50 6 2 7 6 4

The target is 4*118, or 8*59.  I went with that latter option first to get 472 = (50 + 7 + 2)*(6 + 6 - 4).  Then I considered the option of 500 - 28 and found 472 = (6 + 6 - 2)*50 - 4*7.  Finally, I revisited the factorisation options to get 472 = (2*(50 + 6) + 6)*4.

My selection: 472 = (2*(50 + 6) + 6)*4


Round 4: A I S J R O A N F

I had AIRS, RAJAS, RAINS, FARINA, FARINAS, and SAFARI.

FARINAS is the only seven.  The other sixes are NAIRAS (NAIRA: "the unit of currency of Nigeria") and NORIAS (NORIA: "a device consisting of a series of buckets on a wheel, used for raising water").

My selection: FARINAS


Round 5: S M I O H P S U E

I had SHIM, HOUSES, SPOUSE, IMPOSES, and HUMPIES (HUMPIE is colloquial for "a humpback whale" and HUMPY is "a temporary bush shelter traditionally used by Aboriginal people").

The other seven is SOPHISM.

My selection: IMPOSES


Round 6: Target 153 from 25 9 1 5 6 1

I started with the standard method, getting 153 = 6*25 + 5 - 1 - 1.  Then I used the factorisation 9*17 to get a solution with small numbers only: 153 = ((1 + 1)*6 + 5)*9.

My selection: 153 = ((1 + 1)*6 + 5)*9


Round 7: L O T N D E S F U

I had TOLD, STOLEN, FLOUTED, FONDLES, FONDEST, and FONDUES.

Seven is the best to be done, with the others being FOULEST, ENFOLDS, LOUDEST / TOUSLED, NODULES / LOUDENS, TENFOLD, TEFLONS, UNFOLDS, SNOUTED (SNOUT as a verb: "Obsolete Colloquial to rebuff"), and SULFONE (any of a certain class of chemicals).

My selection: FLOUTED


Round 8: Target 667 from 25 100 10 10 6 6

Getting to one away was fairly easy, and I went with 666 = 6*(100 + 10) + 6.  I could not close the gap within time, however.

It took me a while of fiddling afterwards before I hit upon the idea of making the target as 642 + 25.  I should have considered this much earlier, because there's only that one odd number.  I had wondered up the garden path of trying to make the target as 4002/6, however.  Anyway, 642 was promising because it is divisible by 6, and a little thought turned that observation into an answer: 667 = 6*(100 + 6 + 10/10) + 25.  This turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 666 = 6*(100 + 10) + 6  [1 off]
Best: 667 = 6*(100 + 6 + 10/10) + 25


Round 9: MAD CYPHER

I forget what nearby word made me think of this.  Definitely a hard one!

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