NG 682

New game 682 is now available.


Round 1: O U F E L O T S R

I had FOUL, FOOTLE, FOULEST, FOETORS (FOETOR being a variant spelling of FETOR: "any strong offensive smell"), and rightly rejected FOOTLERS and ROOFLETS.  After time I finally spotted the eight of FLOUTERS, and noted RESTFUL as another seven.

Althought the Macquarie does list FOOT RULE ("a ruler one foot in length), it is only as two words, so there is no full monty here.  FLOUTERS is the only eight, and there's various other sevens, of which I'll just mention FLOUTER, FLUSTER, OURSELF, and FLORETS.

My selection: FOULEST
Best: FLOUTERS


Round 2: I F A E I L D T M

I had FAIL, FAILED, and LIMITED.  After time I noted down some of the other sixes that I had seen: MEDIAL, FILMED, and DILATE / DETAIL.

There is an eight to be had here: FILIATED (FILIATE: "Law to determine judicially the paternity of, as a bastard child").  The other sevens are FILIATE, DELIMIT, and MIDLIFE.

My selection: LIMITED
Best: FILIATED


Round 3: Target 286 from 100 75 8 2 5 6

I went for the standard method; the offset from 300 is 14 = 8 + 6, and that observation soon led to 286 = (5 - 2)*100 - 8 - 6.

My selection: 286 = (5 - 2)*100 - 8 - 6


Round 4: S Z N A E R E T I

I had SANE, EARNS, NEAREST, and then the I brought the RETSINA mix into play.  I noted down RETINAS and tried to recall what the anagram of RETSINA + E was.  Fortunately it came to me: RESINATE ("to treat with resin").  I also wrote down ZANIEST as the best word I could think of using the Z.  After time I checked up on ZESTIER*; ZESTY gets a mention, but not ZESTIER*.

The other eights (all anagrams of RESINATE) are TRAINEES / STEARINE (variant spelling of STEARIN, one of three esters of stearic acid) / ARSENITE ("a salt of any of the hypothetical arsenous acids").

My selection: RESINATE


Round 5: N A C O I I D D P

I had COIN and CANDID.  It wasn't a great mix, but it could have been redeemed if that final P had instead been a T for ADDICTION.

The other sixes are ANODIC ("relating to an anode or the phenomena in its vicinity") and DIACID ("(of an acid or salt) having two acidic hydrogen atoms").  But there is a seven: CONIDIA (plural form of CONIDIUM).

But wait, there's more!  There's even an eight here: PINACOID ("Crystallography a form whose faces are parallel to two of the axes").

My selection: CANDID
Best: PINACOID


Round 6: Target 353 from 75 25 100 5 4 3

The standard method applies fairly easily to give 353 = 5*75 - 25 + 3.

My selection: 353 = 5*75 - 25 + 3


Round 7: S N E G R M C O O

I had REGS (not valid, as it turns out), GERMS, MONGERS (MONGER: "a dealer in some commodity"), SCROOGE, and CONGERS (CONGER being a type of eel).

The other seven is OROGENS (OROGEN: "a linear belt of deformed rocks on the earth's crust caused by rock folding during orogenesis").

My selection: MONGERS


Round 8: Target 651 from 100 1 6 5 8 7

The standard method suggests working either up from 600 or down from 700.  I noticed that the offset from 700 is 49, also divisible by 7, meaning that the target is 7*93.  Thinking about it that way gave me a solution of 651 = 7*(100 - 6 - 1).  Then I noted the untweaked option of 651 = 7*100 - 6*8 - 1.

My selection: 651 = 7*(100 - 6 - 1)


Round 9: DAFT RANCH

With only two vowels, and A's at that, it seems clear that the answer will be a compound word.  It took me longer than it should have to pick out HAND from that mix and so find HANDCRAFT.

My selection: HANDCRAFT (11.3s)