NG 782

New game 782 is now available.

The re-run is episode 45; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: O F C D M E U S N

I had DOME, CODES, CONFUSED, CONSUMED, and FOCUSED.

CONFUSED and CONSUMED are the only eights.  The othe sevens are CONFUSE, CONSUME, FONDUES, and MUSCONE (a certain chemical extracted from musk).

My selection: CONFUSED


Round 2: I A O M B D P Q S

Ergh, unhelpful mix.  I had MAID, MAIDS, and IAMBS.

The six that could be had here is BIPODS (BIPOD: "a two-legged support, as for a machine-gun").

My selection: MAIDS
Best: BIPODS


Round 3: Target 225 from 100 50 7 9 3 10

The target is immediately recognisable as 9*25 or 3*75; I went with the former, and then had to make a 25.  That was fortunately not too difficult, giving me 225 = 9*100 / (7 - 3).  Making a 75 was more difficult for me, but I also got there with 225 = (7*9 + 10 + 100/50)*3.

My selection: 225 = 9*100 / (7 - 3)


Round 4: I O O R C O N L P

Yuck, horrible duplication in the unhelpful O's.  I had CORN, COLON, and took a chance on POLONIC (thinking that it might be related to the element polonium).  Unfortunately, it is not valid.  After time I noted COLOR as another five.

There are no sixes, but there is a seven: the chemical ORCINOL.  The other fives are POLIO, CROON, ORCIN (variant form of ORCINOL), PORNO, PRION (perhaps well known due to its role in mad cow disease, but also a type of bird) / ORPIN (variant form of ORPINE, a type of plant), CROOL ("Colloquial (a representation in writing of an uneducated pronunciation of cruel)"), ORLON ("a synthetic acrylic textile fibre of light weight and good crease resistance [trademark]"), and ORLOP ("the lowest deck of a ship").

My selection: [invalid -- POLONIC]
Best: ORCINOL


Round 5: S Z D A I H E U T

I had AIDS, SHADE, AUDITS, and AZIDES (AZIDE being one of a class of chemicals).

There's various other sixes, of which I'll just mention HIATUS, ADIEUS, and SUITED.  The seven that I should have seen is HAZIEST, but the other seven to be had is DEUTZIA, a type of flower.  That leads to the best answer for eight: DEUTZIAS.

I'll note that some sources would allow SHIATZU, but the Macquarie only has the spelling SHIATSU.

My selection: AUDITS
Best: DEUTZIAS


Round 6: Target 175 from 100 4 5 2 2 3

Shades of the previous numbers round here; I wanted to make the target as 7*25, and again had to manufacture a 25.  Once again it was easy enough, giving me 175 = (5 + 2)*100 / 4.

My selection: 175 = (5 + 2)*100 / 4


Round 7: F A H I E T M O T

I had FAITH and FATHOM.

The other six here is HOTTIE.

My selection: FATHOM


Round 8: Target 506 from 100 9 10 7 1 1

I struggled with this one, and within time was only able to get to one away with 507 = 10*100 / (1 + 1) + 7.  A while after time I finally spotted the factorisation 11*46, and was a little surprised when I got it to work: 506 = (10 + 1)*(100 - 9*(7 - 1)).  That would have been extremely satisfying to find in time.

There are only two other solutions.  One I might have found if I had considered making the 2 in my answer as 9 - 7 instead of 1 + 1: 506 = 10*(100 + 1) / (9 - 7) + 1.  Bother.  The other goes via 2*253 to get 506 = (9*(10 + 7) + 100)*(1 + 1).

My selection: 507 = 10*100 / (1 + 1) + 7  [1 off]
Best: 506 = 10*(100 + 1) / (9 - 7) + 1


Round 9: HIPPO SECT

I gave up on this one too early, admittedly, but had completely overlooked the -IEST option and gotten quite lost with things like -SCOPE and -SHIP.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: CHOPPIEST