NG 756

New game 756 is now available.

The re-run is episode 19; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: L O N I I S H E P

I had LION, LIONS, LIONISE / ELISION, and PHONIES.

HIPLINES is not listed, but there is a valid eight: PINHOLES.  The other sevens are PINHOLE, EPSILON / PINOLES (PINOLE: "any of various mixtures or aromatic powders, used as flavouring"), PHENOLS, PLENISH ("Chiefly Scottish to fill up; stock; furnish"), and SPLENII (plural of SPLENIUS, a muscle of the back and neck).

My selection: LIONISE


Round 2: N O W C E A R G R

I had ONCE, CANOE, ORANGE, was uncertain about CROWNER (it is valid), and REGROWN.  After time I noted another seven of GROANER.

The eight here is CAREWORN.  The other sevens are WAGONER, WRONGER, and ACROGEN ("a plant having no proper flowers but a growing point at the end of its perennial stems, as a fern or moss").

My selection: REGROWN
Best: CAREWORN


Round 3: Target 972 from 50 7 2 5 1 3

The target is 9*108, but it does not seem possible to make that approach work.  Switching to the standard method, the multipliers for the 50 are 19 or 20.  For the first, the offset of 22 is 19 + 3, and that opens up tweaking options.  All that remains is to make a 19 from 2, 5, and 7, and that is possible: 972 = (2*7 + 5)*(50 + 1) + 3.

There's quite a few solutions, but only one that does not use all the numbers: 972 = (3 + 1)*(5*50 - 7).

My selection: 972 = (2*7 + 5)*(50 + 1) + 3


Round 4: T U E R G S C A E

I had TRUE, GUTSER ("an unexpected and disappointing event such as a fall or a failure"), TRUCES, and CURATES.  After time I noted CREATES as another seven, and checked up on SECATEUR; as I somewhat recalled, only the plural form SECATEURS is listed.

With SECATEUR not being valid the best to be done is seven.  The others are AUSTERE, GESTURE, RESTAGE (that's RE-STAGE, not REST-AGE) / ERGATES (ERGATE: "the worker ant"), CERATES (CERATE: "an unctuous (often medicated) preparation for external application [...]") / ÉCARTÉS (ÉCARTÉ: "Ballet a position in which one arm and the leg from the same side of the body are extended"), CAUTERS (CAUTER being a variation of CAUTERY: "an escharotic substance or a hot iron used to destroy tissue"), and  CESURAE* (as I've mentioned before, it's a bit of an edge case -- see round 7 of NG 317).

My selection: CURATES


Round 5: T I B M E I R A D

I had TIME, TRIBE, TIMBER, ADMIRE, READMIT, and TRIBADE.

The other seven is AIRTIME, but the eight in this mix is DIATRIBE.

My selection: READMIT
Best: DIATRIBE


Round 6: Target 145 from 25 75 5 4 5 1

I recognised the target as 5*29, and it was a short step to 145 = 5*(25 + 4).

My selection: 145 = 5*(25 + 4)


Round 7: C T E I M L I D E

I had CITE, LIMIT, LIMITED / DELIMIT, and ELICITED.

ELICITED is the only eight.  The remaining seven is EIDETIC.

My selection: ELICITED


Round 8: Target 883 from 100 10 8 4 2 7

The plan of 880 + 3 is clear enough, and soon produced 883 = 8*(100 + 10) + 7 - 4.

My selection: 883 = 8*(100 + 10) + 7 - 4


Round 9: INFIRM AGE

This is one time that the -ING was a red herring.  I wasn't close to solving this.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: MAGNIFIER