NG 694

New game 694 is now available.

The re-run is episode 397; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: O D T R G E A I N

I had TROD, GREAT, DOTAGE, INGRATE, and ORDINATE / RATIONED.  After time I noted other eights of DRAGONET, TREADING, and ORGANDIE / ROGAINED.

Eight is the best to be done here; the others are GRADIENT / REDATING.

My selection: ORDINATE


Round 2: T A O S A E C M P

I had OATS, COAST, very briefly thought that COMATOSE was available before realising that it duplicated the wrong vowel, CAEOMAS (one plural form of CAEOMA: "(in fungi) an aecium in which the spores are formed in chains and not enclosed in a peridium"), POMACES (POMACE: "the pulpy residue from apples or similar fruit after crushing and pressing [...]"), and CAMPEST.

Some sources give PEACOAT as a synonym for PEA JACKET ("a short coat of thick woollen cloth worn especially by sailors"); the Macquarie does not, however, so PEACOATS is not valid and seven is the limit.  The other sevens are TOECAPS / CAPOTES / SCOPATE (adjective derived from SCOPA: "a bunch of hairs on an insect's legs or abdomen for collecting pollen") and COMATES / CAMOTES (CAMOTE being a variant spelling of KAMOTE, a Philippine English term for a sweet potato).

My selection: CAEOMAS


Round 3: Target 277 from 50 25 100 4 8 10

The standard method suggests making this a 275 + 2.  My first instinct was to put the 8 and 4 aside to make that 2, but I found myself unable to get to 275 after doing that.  (Seen just now is that I could have combined the division by 4 to make that work with 277 = 10*25 + (100 + 8)/4.)  But then I realised that I could make the 2 as 10 - 8 instead and so found 277 = 4*50 + 100 - 25 + 10 - 8.  Looking for other options, I considered 252 + 25; 252 came up a little earlier as a target, and is 6*42, leading to the solution 277 = (10 - 4)*(50 - 8) + 25.

My selection: 277 = (10 - 4)*(50 - 8) + 25


Round 4: D U I E O S R N D

I had DOUSE, ROUSED, wondered about INDURES (not valid; INSURED would be the sensible option with those letters), and INDORSED.

The other eights are REDOUNDS and DOURINES (DOURINE: "an infectious disease of horses [...]") / SOURDINE (variant form of SORDINO, a synonym of MUTE in the sense of "a mechanical device of various shapes and materials for muffling the tone of a musical instrument").  There's various other sevens, of which I will just mention RESOUND / SOUNDER and SOUNDED.

My selection: INDORSED


Round 5: S M P H I F M I A

I had SHIP, FISH, IMPISH, and FAMISH.  After time I noted MISHAP as another six.

That's all the sixes listed.  A couple of the more common fives here are MAIMS and APISH.

My selection: IMPISH


Round 6: Target 956 from 100 75 3 1 7 5

Definitely a tough one!  I flailed around trying to get close, and at one point found that 7*100 + 3*75 = 925.  The offset is 31, and with tweaking we could make 7*5 - 3*1 = 32, giving a one off 957 = 7*(100 + 5) + 3*(75 - 1).  That was the best that I could do, and later checking confirmed that the target is unreachable.

My selection: 957 = 7*(100 + 5) + 3*(75 - 1)  [1 off]


Round 7: T E E I N S R C A

I had TEEN, INSET, TENSER, RACIEST, RESINATE, CANISTER, and then a memory from all the way back in NG 103 got me to the nine of NECTARIES (NECTARY: "Botany an organ or part, usually of a flower, that secretes nectar").

There are two other nines here: ITERANCES (ITERANCE being given as a synonym for ITERATION) / CREATINES (CREATINE being a certain amino acid).  There's a decent spread of eights, of which I'll just mention TRAINEES, INCREASE, ENTICERS, and SCANTIER.

My selection: NECTARIES


Round 8: Target 893 from 75 5 7 9 3 7

The target is clearly 12*75 - 7, and that leads directly to 893 = (7 + 5)*75 - 7 or 893 = (9 + 3)*75 - 7, depending on one's preference.

My selection: 893 = (7 + 5)*75 - 7


Round 9: WHY FIT LEG

The -IGHT fragment comes up occasionally, although in this case it would be easy to see only LIGHT and miss WEIGHT.  The latter is the way forward, of course, yielding the boxing class of FLYWEIGHT.

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