NG 679

New game 679 is now available.


Round 1: K F A W R S I O A

I had WARS and FAKIRS.

The other sixes are SAFARI and KAFIRS (KAFIR being a Muslim term for an unbeliever).

My selection: FAKIRS


Round 2: P C G E D F A S A

I had CADGE, CADGES, ADAGES, and SPACED.

The seven here is FACADES.  The other sixes are FACADE, GASPED, DECAFS, FADGES (FADGE: "a loosely filled wool bale"), SCAPED (SCAPE being listed as an archaic version of ESCAPE), and AGAPES (AGAPE as a noun: "a meal of fellowship, originally with the early Christians").

My selection: ADAGES
Best: FACADES


Round 3: Target 676 from 50 25 3 7 4 5

The target is the square of 26, but I was not able to get a solution from that observation.  I wrote down the fallback one off 675 = (5 + 4)*(50 + 25), and kept looking.  At some point I considered working up from 7*75, and realised that the offset of 150 to 675 was makeable with a tweak: 3*(7*25 + 50) = 675.  That rather helpfully left useful small numbers in order to make the offset of 1, giving the solution 676 = 3*(7*25 + 50) + 5 - 4.

After time I realised that I could also make the offset of 26 as 3*7 + 5, and that made another tweaked solution possible: 676 = 7*(4*25 + 3) + 5 - 50.

My selection: 676 = 3*(7*25 + 50) + 5 - 4


Round 4: E T R S O M U R P

I had REST, STORE, MUSTER, TREMORS, PORTERS, and rightly rejected TRUMPERS.

There are two eights here after all: TROUPERS / POSTURER.

My selection: PORTERS
Best: TROUPERS


Round 5: T T L I A N T E N

I had TILT, TAIL, ATILT, TAINT, and ENTAIL.  I checked up on TANLINE afterward, but it is not listed.  After time I also noted the sixes of TITTLE, INTENT, and TALENT.

Six is the best to be done here.  The others are INNATE, TATTLE, LATENT / LATTEN ("any metal in thin sheets"), TENANT, and LINNET (a type of songbird).

My selection: ENTAIL


Round 6: Target 349 from 100 75 50 25 9 6

I had a lot of trouble with this one, and had to settle for one away with 350 = 6*75 - 100.

It took a while after time for me to find a solution.  The breakthrough came from thinking of it as 400 - 51, and then realising that I could make 51 as 6*9 - 75/25.  A quick tweak later gave the solution 349 = 6*(50 - 9) + 100 + 75/25.  This turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 350 = 6*75 - 100  [1 off]
Best: 349 = 6*(50 - 9) + 100 + 75/25


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

I had HIES, HIRES, SHRED, STRIDE, THREADS, HEADIEST, HARDIEST, and HEARTIES.

The other eights are STEADIER / READIEST and HEADREST.

My selection: HEADIEST


Round 8: Target 448 from 75 50 5 6 3 6

The target is 8*56, giving me 448 = (5 + 3)*(50 + 6).  Then I noted the alternative approach of 448 = 6*75 - 6/3.

My selection: 448 = (5 + 3)*(50 + 6)


Round 9: LAVA GLINT

The -ING fragment was a red herring here.  I was surprised to spot the answer of GALLIVANT so quickly.

My selection: GALLIVANT (2.4s)