NG 753

New game 753 is now available.

The re-run is episode 16; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: L I N R N E A O S

I had LINER, LINEAR, AILERON, AILERONS, and rightly rejected NONSERIAL.

The other eights are ALIENORS (ALIENOR: "someone who transfers property") and SOLANINE (a certain poisonous alkaloid).  Perhaps the most common of the other sevens is LOANERS.

My selection: AILERONS


Round 2: N D T N O L N I U

I had TOLD, UNTOLD, and TOLUID (variant spelling of TOLUIDE, a certain chemical).

Six is the best to be done with these letters; the other are INDULT ("Roman Catholic Church a general faculty granted for a specific time or a specific number of cases by the Holy See to bishops and others, of doing something not permitted by the common law of the church") and DUNLIN (a type of bird).

My selection: UNTOLD


Round 3: Target 297 from 25 5 10 9 7 8

Starting with 12*25 seemed reasonable, but could only get me to one away; instead I realised that I could work up from 200 to get 297 = 8*25 + 9*10 + 7.  Then I considered the factorisation 9*33 and found another solution of 297 = (5*7 - 10 + 8)*9.  After time I realised that I could shorten that considerably by using the large number: 297 = 9*(25 + 8).

My selection: 297 = 8*25 + 9*10 + 7


Round 4: E O U S W E G M S

I had WOES, OGEES (OGEE: "a double curve (like the letter S) formed by the union of a concave and a convex line"), and MOUSSE.  I had hoped for a final R for GRUESOME, but no such luck.

The other sixes are SEGUES and MOUSES (here MOUSE is a verb for using a computer mouse).

My selection: MOUSSE


Round 5: A I E T H F C A P

I had HEAT, FAITH, FETICH (variant spelling of FETISH), was uncertain about FACETIA (not valid; I was thinking of FACETIAE: "amusing writing or witty remarks"), and HEPATIC ("a medicine acting on the liver").

The eight to be had here is HEPATICA, a type of plant.  The other sevens are CHAPATI (variant spelling of CHAPATTI) and APHETIC ("of, relating to, or due to aphesis", where APHESIS is "(in historical linguistic process) the gradual disappearance of an unstressed initial vowel or syllable, as in mend from amend").

My selection: HEPATIC
Best: HEPATICA


Round 6: Target 547 from 50 100 75 4 10 9

I struggled with this one, and was only able to get to one off with 546 = 9*50 + 100 - 4.

There's only one solution to this target, by making it as 9*61 - 2: 547 = 9*(75 - 10 - 4) - 100/50

My selection: 546 = 9*50 + 100 - 4  [1 off]
Best: 547 = 9*(75 - 10 - 4) - 100/50


Round 7: D H A R E B I G U

I had HARD, HEARD, and BRIGADE / ABRIDGE.

Seven is the best to be done, with the others being BEARHUG, GAUDIER, and BIGHEAD

My selection: BRIGADE


Round 8: Target 255 from 100 25 9 8 6 9

I had a bit of trouble with thise one, also, until considering the factorisation 5*51 led me to realised that it also factored as 15*17, yielding 255 = (9 + 6)*(9 + 8).

My selection: 255 = (9 + 6)*(9 + 8)


Round 9: BLEAK ANTS

I saw BLANKETS as an eight, then got sidetracked by -ABLE.  I was not able to solve this within time.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: BEANSTALK