NG 672

New game 672 is now available.


Round 1: E O D H F P O R G

I had HOED, HOPED, HOOPED, HOOFED, and PROOFED.

PROOFED is the only seven.  The other sixes are ROOFED / FOREDO / DOOFER (variant spelling of DOOVER: "Colloquial any object (often used jocularly in place of the usual name)"), FOREGO, FORGED, GOOFED, GROPED, GOPHER, and HOOFER ("US Colloquial someone who makes dancing an occupation, as a chorus girl").

My selection: PROOFED


Round 2: B I P E S A N S L

I had PIES, PANES, PAINLESS, and wondered if ANSIBLES might be listed (it is not).

The other eights are SPANIELS, BIPLANES, PASSIBLE ("capable of suffering or feeling; susceptible to sensation or emotion"), and BASSLINE / LESBIANS.

My selection: PAINLESS


Round 3: Target 327 from 25 9 7 2 10 5

The nearby 325 is 13*25, and I struggled a bit to get that 13 without using the 2.  I got there in the end, though, with 327 = (10 + 7 + 5 - 9)*25 + 2.

My selection: 327 = (10 + 7 + 5 - 9)*25 + 2


Round 4: D L U N M U M A I

I had ALUM, LAUD, MINDA ("SA Colloquial a foolish person"), was uncertain about IMMUNAL (not valid), and then spotted the American spelling ALUMINUM.

The very nice seven in this mix is MAUDLIN.  The sixes are ALUMNI / LUMINA (one plural form of LUMEN, a unit of light) and UNLAID.

My selection: ALUMINUM


Round 5: B R E S T I U A C

I had REST, BITERS, BRUISE, RACIEST, SUBERIC ("of or relating to cork"), and SURICATE (a meerkat).

The other eight here is BRUCITES (BRUCITE being a type of mineral).  There's more potential sevens than I felt like checking on, so I'll just mention SAUCIER, BUSTIER, and CURATES.

My selection: SURICATE


Round 6: Target 962 from 25 8 9 1 2 2

With those small numbers this could be very difficult, and indeed it is.  The nearby multiples of 25 are 38 and 39 times it, and neither of those if particularly formable.  Trying to get close, I managed one off with 963 = 9*(2*2*25 + 8 - 1), and in the end that was the best that I could do.

The checking program that I used indicated -- a little to my surprise -- that this was actually solvable.  I spent a while hung up on that, and in particular trying to get (25*77 - 1)/2 to work, before eventually noticing that the target was 13*74.  That realisation quickly got me to a solution of 962 = ((25 + 1)/2)*(9*8 + 2), and checking confirmed that this was the only solution.

My selection: 963 = 9*(2*2*25 + 8 - 1)


Round 7: N W I H I E C K A

I had WHINE and HACKIE.

Six is the best to be done here; the others are HANKIE, HICKIE (variant spelling of HICKEY), ECHINI (plural of ECHINUS, a kind of sea urchin), and WAHINE (from New Zealand: "a Maori woman, especially a wife or girlfriend").

My selection: HACKIE


Round 8: Target 551 from 25 75 100 10 3 7

I flailed around unprofitably on this one for a goodly while, in particular trying to make it as 530 + 3*7.  (It would have made more sense to try for 500 + 3*(10 + 7), and if I had thought of that at the time I might well have found 551 = (10 + 7)*(25 + 3) + 75.)  That got me to an overly complicated one away of 550 = 7*(75 + 3) + 100/25.  Then I realised that I could make the target as 600 - 7*7, since 10 - 3 = 7 was also available.  A quick tweak later and I had a solution: 551 = 7*(100 - (10 - 3)) - 75 - 25.  Phew!

My selection: 551 = 7*(100 - (10 - 3)) - 75 - 25


Round 9: SINGLE PIC

I jumped in too early with SPLICING, alas.

My selection: [invalid -- SPLICING]
Best: ECLIPSING