NG 742

New game 742 is now available.


Round 1: P T E R B R E H I

I had PERT, BERET, and REBIRTH.  After time I confirmed that neither BERTHER nor BIRTHER were valid, then spotted HERBERT (not valid, of course, although Star Trek once tried to use it as slang) which led me to see HERBIER* as another seven.

PREBIRTH is not listed, so seven is the best to be done; the other seven here is PRITHEE.  The sixes are RETIRE, EITHER, and PERTER.

My selection: REBIRTH


Round 2: F A E S G M K M O

I had SAFE, GAMES, and OMEGAS.

Six is the limit, with the other being SMEGMA.

My selection: OMEGAS


Round 3: Target 468 from 50 2 8 7 3 10

The target is near 9*50, and in fact is 9*52.  A little playing with that idea gave me 468 = (10 + 7 - 8)*(50 + 2).  Then I noted a minor variation of 468 = 3*(10 - 7)*(50 + 2).

My selection: 468 = (10 + 7 - 8)*(50 + 2)


Round 4: L D A R I A E T N

I had LARD, LAIRD, AERIAL, TRAILED, RADIATE, RADIANT, ADRENAL, and then cast my mind back to episode 346 and found ARALDITE for eight.

LARIATED is not valid, so ARALDITE is the only eight.  The other sevens are TRAINED / DETRAIN, RETINAL / LATRINE / RELIANT / RATLINE ("Nautical any of the small ropes or lines which traverse the shrouds horizontally, serving as steps for going aloft") / TRENAIL (variant spelling of TREENAIL: "a cylindrical pin of hard word for fastening together timbers in ships, etc."), LANIARD (variant spelling of LANYARD), and TENDRIL.

ENTRAILS is only listed in plural form, so ENTRAIL does not get the nod.

My selection: ARALDITE


Round 5: H T C A E O N W L

I had CHAT, TEACH, and ETHANOL.

The other sevens are LACTONE (LACTONE: "one of a class of internal esters derived from hydroxy acids") and CHALONE ("an endocrine secretion which reduces physiological activity").  There's various sixes, of which I'll just mention WEALTH, CLOTHE, OCTANE, LOATHE, LANCET, and TECHNO.

My selection: ETHANOL


Round 6: Target 639 from 100 75 50 5 9 3

I almost overlooked that the target was 9*71, as I got sidetracked by trying to make it as 625 + 9 + 5.  That did not quite seem feasible, and when I cast about for other options I considered working down from 9*75 and so realised the factorisation.  Some thought then gave me a solution: 639 = 9*(75 - (5 + 3)/(100/50)).

My selection: 639 = 9*(75 - (5 + 3)/(100/50))


Round 7: T I N S E C O O M

I had TINS, STEIN, INSECT, SECTION, an uncertain MOONIEST (valid), was dubious about MONOCITES (not valid; I was thinking of MONOCYTES, as I suspected at the time), and then happily spotted the alternative of ECONOMIST.

The other nine here is EMOTICONS.  The other eights are EMOTICON, EMOTIONS, and COONTIES (COONTIE being a type of arrowroot plant).  Amongst the other sevens are EMOTION, NOISOME, MOISTEN, and NOTICES.

My selection: ECONOMIST


Round 8: Target 975 from 100 4 1 9 3 4

I started with a straightforward 975 = 9*(100 + 4 + 4) + 3, then looked at the option of 13*75 and found 975 = (9 + 4)*3*100/4.

My selection: 975 = (9 + 4)*3*100/4


Round 9: UNITES EGO

It took me a while to untangle the -ING and OUT- fragments to find OUTSEEING here.  I got distracted by -OUS at first.

My selection: OUTSEEING (9.1s)