NG 691

New game 691 is now available.

The re-run is episode 394 (the first quarter final); its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: H G R T A E J C O

I had HART, GATHER, and GOTCHA.

Six is the best to be done; the others are CHARGE, HECTOR / ROCHET ("a vestment of linen or lawn, resembling a surplice, worn especially by bishops and abbots") / TROCHE ("a small tablet, esecially a circular one, made of some medicinal substance worked into a paste with sugar and mucilage or the like, and dried"), TOERAG / ORGEAT ("a syrup or drink made from almonds (originally from barley), sugar, and a water prepared from orange flowers"), and ORACHE (also ORACH, a type of plant) / OCHREA (variant spelling of OCREA: "a sheathing part, as a pair of stipules united about a stem").

My selection: GATHER


Round 2: P A T E L C S B U

I had TAPE, PETAL, PLACES, and SCULPT.  If only that B had been an E the SPECULATE / PECULATES would have been available.  Of course, the next vowel was an I so that does not apply.  Anyway, after time I checked on RESCULPT (not valid) and noted other sixes of SUBTLE / BUSTLE, then checked up on CAPLETS (not valid) and finally thought of CAPSULE for seven.

There is an eight here, though: BLUECAPS (BLUECAP: "a year-old salmon, with blue markings on its head").  The other sevens are BLUECAP, TEACUPS / CUSPATE, UPBEATS, UPSCALE / SPECULA (plural of SPECULUM), PULSATE, CABLETS (that's small cables, not small cabs), SUBLATE ("(in Hegelian philosophy) to set aside but not wholly to dispense with; supersede while retaining something of the nature of what is superseded"), SULCATE ("cleft, as a hoof"), PLACETS (PLACET: "(an expression or vote of assent or sanction)"), and LACTASE ("an enzyme capable of hydrolysing lactose into glucose and galactose"), and BASCULE ("a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge [...] by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight").

My selection: SCULPT
Best: BLUECAPS


Round 3: Target 931 from 75 50 8 5 3 2

Getting to 925 is the obvious starting point, and the first approach that I found helpfully left the 2 and 3 for the final offset of 6.  The resulting solution is 931 = (8 + 5)*75 - 50 + 2*3.  Then I noticed the factorisation 7*133 and so found an alternative of 931 = (5 + 2)*(75 + 50 + 8).

My selection: 931 = (5 + 2)*(75 + 50 + 8)


Round 4: N I L C S N E U R

I had CLUES, INSURE, wondered about CURLIES (not valid), INCURS, CRUISE, and SCUNNER (colloquial for "a dislike or prejudice").  After time I checked on NUNCLES, but it is not listed.

The eight here is NUCLEINS (NUCLEIN: "any of several proteins found in all living cell nuclei").  The other sevens are NUCLEIN, SUNNIER / UNRISEN, RUNNELS, and LEUCINS (LEUCIN being a variant form of LEUCINE, an amino acid).

My selection: SCUNNER
Best: NUCLEINS


Round 5: K A H C A S F I N

I had HACK, SHACK, FASCIA ("a band or fillet"), and CHAINS.

The Macquarie does not list KACHINAS, so eight is not possible.  The seven is ACHKANS (ACHKAN: "a type of long coat reaching to the knees and having buttons down the front, worn by Indian men").  The other sixes are ACHKAN, CHINKS, FACIAS (FACIA being a variant spelling of FASCIA), CHINAS, and CHANAS (CHANA: "a dull yellow variety of chickpea, sold dried and split, and commonly used in Indian cooking").

My selection: CHAINS
Best: ACHKANS


Round 6: Target 647 from 75 100 1 3 5 9

To apply the standard method we want to get to 650; that means we want to make a number ending in 50, which requires multiplying 75 by twice an odd number.  That is 2, 6, 10, etc.  Here 10*75 gets us closest, and leads to 647 = (9 + 1)*75 - 100 - 3.  Then I considered the offset from 675; it is 28, which is 9*3 + 1, and a tweak sorts it out: 647 = 9*(75 - 3) - 1.

My selection: 647 = 9*(75 - 3) - 1


Round 7: O E O W E M T F R

I had MOTE, EMOTE, FOOTER, and WOOFER.  I did amuse myself with the idea of FEETROOM, but not seriously.

The other sixes are REMOTE / METEOR, MOOTER, and FOETOR.

My selection: FOOTER


Round 8: Target 825 from 50 5 4 9 7 3

The target is familiar as 11*75, which is 33*25.  At first I could not see a useful way to apply that, and wrote down the fallback two off 823 = (9 + 7)*50 + 5*4 + 3.  Then I realised that 33*25 is also 66*50/4, leading to 825 = (9*7 + 3)*50/4.

My selection: 825 = (9*7 + 3)*50/4


Round 9: UNCOOL TIE

The -TION fragment proved its worth here; at first I looked at -OTION, but with the leftover letters I soon realised that I wanted -UTION for ELOCUTION.

My selection: ELOCUTION (7.8s)