NG 716

New game 716 is now available.

The re-run is episode 429; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: I N F G T U O C A

I had FUNGI, OUTING, AGOUTI, COATING, and OUTFACING.  After time I noted other sevens of AUCTION / CAUTION and FACTION.

The remaining seven is COTINGA (a type of bird).

My selection: OUTFACING


Round 2: S I L E R S S D A

I had ISLE, RILES, DRESS, AIRLESS, DERAILS, and LASSIES.  After time I noted SLIDERS as another seven.  I had been hoping for a final O for SOLDIERS, but no such luck.

Seven is the limit here, with the others being SERIALS / RESAILS / SAILERS (SAILER being a type of boat), SASSIER, and AIDLESS.

My selection: AIRLESS


Round 3: Target 564 from 75 2 1 7 10 7

Starting with 7*75 seemed fairly clear, and the offset of 39 is 7*7 - 10.  Putting it together gives 564 = 7*(75 + 7) - 10.  Then I looked at the factorisation 6*94 and found another option of 564 = (7 - 1)*(75 + 10 + 7 + 2).

My selection: 564 = 7*(75 + 7) - 10


Round 4: G W T E O A U S T

I had GOAT, OUTAGE, and OUTAGES.  OUTSTAGE and OUTSWEAT were just too implausible, and indeed they are not valid.

My Scrabble list suggests OUTGATES and OUTWASTE, but neither are in the Macquarie and so seven is the best to be done.  The other sevens are STOWAGE / TOWAGES and TAUTOGS (TAUTOG being a type of fish).

My selection: OUTAGES


Round 5: E N A C E P M R E

I had CANE, PECAN, PACEMEN, MENACER, and wondered about PERMEANCE.  I decided against it, and unfortunately that was the wrong decision (PERMEANCE: "the act of permeating"; also "the flux density produced by an applied electric current around a magnet").

There are no eights, and PACEMEN and MENACER are the only sevens.

My selection: PACEMEN
Best: PERMEANCE


Round 6: Target 396 from 75 5 1 3 7 4

Applying the standard method soon led to 396 = 5*75 + 3*7.  I looked at various factorisations (I really wanted to make 11*36 work, but was not able to do so), finding another solution via 6*66 with 396 = (7 - 1)*(75 - 5 - 4).

My selection: 396 = 5*75 + 3*7


Round 7: S U H A O M A R I

I had MASH, HOURS, HOURIS, and SHARIA.

There are two sevens to be found here: MOHAIRS and SAMURAI.  Ooh, I wish I'd seen that!  There's various other sixes, of which I'll just mention MOHAIR, MIAOUS, ASHRAM, and HUMORS.

My selection: SHARIA
Best: SAMURAI


Round 8: Target 345 from 75 6 3 2 5 6

A short tweak with the standard method sorted this out easily enough: 345 = 5*(75 - 6).

My selection: 345 = 5*(75 - 6)


Round 9: SBS NOISES

After I solved this, I realised that it would be easy to mistakenly try OBSESSION.  I hope nobody fell into that trap.  Fortunately for me, I looked at the -NESS ending first.

My selection: BOSSINESS (1.2s)