NG 666

New game 666 is now available.


Round 1: E K B D O I T S E

I had BODE, BIKED, DEBIT, DEBITS, and BODIES.

There's other sixes, such as BIDETS and STOKED, but the seven here is BETIDES.

My selection: BODIES
Best: BETIDES


Round 2: S N E R O E S A G

I had SNORE, SNORES, REASONS, a slightly uncertain SEASONER (valid), ENGROSS, and noted that a final T instead of that G would have allowed RESONATES.  After time I noted other sevens of SARONGS, ORANGES, and SANGERS.

SEASONER is the only eight; there's a spread of other sevens, of which I'll just mention ENRAGES and GREASES.

My selection: SEASONER


Round 3: Target 820 from 50 8 8 2 1 7

Applying the standard method, the target is near 16*50, with the 16 being either 2*8 or 8 + 8.  The former left tweaking options available, and I was able to see that 20 = 2*(7 - 1) + 8, giving me 820 = 2*(8*50 + 7 - 1) + 8.

My selection: 820 = 2*(8*50 + 7 - 1) + 8


Round 4: L M I C T Y E E A

I had CLIME and CLIMATE.

MEATILY is not listed, a little to my surprise, so the only other seven here is MYCELIA (plural of MYCELIUM: "the vegetative part or thallus of the fungi, when composed of one or more filamentous elements, or hyphae").

My selection: CLIMATE


Round 5: R U E M A S N T C

I had MARE, REAMS, SURNAME, CENTAURS, MATURES, MANURES, and wondered if TRUANCE (or, for that matter, TRUANCES) was valid.  It is not, though.

The other eights are RECUSANT ("obstinate in refusal"), CENTRUMS (one plural form of CENTRUM: "a centre"), and MENSTRUA (plural of MENSTRUUM: "a solvent").

My selection: CENTAURS


Round 6: Target 859 from 100 75 25 2 2 10

Making an offset of 9 with those numbers felt difficult, at least without using up too much useful stuff.  Getting to 850 was easy enough, and then I realised that the offset of 9 was also and offset of 16, which played very nicely indeed with the available numbers and required target.  A short tweak later I had a solution: 859 = (10 - 2)*(100 - 2) + 75.

My selection: 859 = (10 - 2)*(100 - 2) + 75


Round 7: O X R F L M U E I

I had FORM, FORUM, FUMIER, and wondered about FLUXOR (not valid).  After time I noted another six of MOILER (agent noun derived from MOIL: "to work hard; toil; drudge").

Six is the best to be done.  The others are FOULER, IREFUL, REFILM, REFLUX, FOXIER, FOLIUM ("a thin leaf-like stratum or layer"), FLEXOR, LOURIE (another name for a turaco, a type of bird), and FLUIER*.

My selection: FUMIER


Round 8: Target 418 from 75 7 3 1 2 9

The nearby multiples of 75 are 450 and 375.  The offset for the former is 32, while for the latter it is 43.  I managed to get there with the former, as 43 is 5*9 - 2, giving me 418 = (7 - 2)*(75 + 9) - (3 - 1).

Seen while writing this up is that I could have made the other approach work with 418 = 2*3*(75 - 7) + 9 + 1.

My selection: 418 = (7 - 2)*(75 + 9) - (3 - 1)


Round 9: OPPOSE DUD

Yet another chosen condunrum, although I forget what made me think of it.

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