NG 110

New game 110 is available.  I wish everyone a pleasant weekend!


Round 1: W E T E S A M C A

I had TWEE ("affected; precious; excessively dainty; coy"), SWEET, and SWEAT.  I also pondered a SWEATCAM, which I could believe might exist but is not so prevalent as to warrant being a word.  A bit after time I saw MACAWS as a possible six.

Tough letters, and sticking with three vowels would have replaced the A with an N for CEMENTS and CASEMENT.  (I might have come unstuck by trying WASTEMEN, though.)  But despite all that there is an eight after all: CASEMATE ("an armoured enclosure for guns in a warship").

The seven is CASEATE ("Pathology to undergo caseous degeneration; become like cheese in consistency and appearance"), and MACAWS is the only six.

My selection: SWEET
Best: CASEMATE


Round 2: N N O U G D U R O

More clustering of the vowels, most unfortunate; an E would really have been nice.  I had NOUN, GROUND, and then wondered about UNROUND and UNGROUND.  I could see the latter as possibly applying to coffee, but in the end I felt they were both too risky and stayed with GROUND.  After time I noted DRONGO as another six.

Those look like the only sixes, and UNGROUND is not valid.  But UNROUND is good for seven after all, and the only one; it means "to pronounce without rounding the lips; the vowel of bit is normally unrounded, the vowel of put is often unrounded".

My selection: GROUND
Best: UNROUND


Round 3: Target 357 from 75 5 4 7 10 9

The factorisation 7*51 is clear, but getting the 51 can be a bit of work.  With some fussing around I found 357 = (75 - 10 - 9 - 5)*7 and 357 = (9*5 + 10 - 4)*7; this latter was pleasing since it avoided the large number entirely, which is always good practice for the six small number mix.  Then I finished with the standard method: 357 = 5*75 - 4*7 + 10.

While writing this up I saw another option for the first approach: 357 = (75/5 + 4*9)*7.  I need more practice at dividing large numbers by 5.

My selection: 357 = (75 - 10 - 9 - 5)*7


Round 4: R S H E A R G A D

I had HERS, SHARE, RASHER, and GRADERS / REGARDS.

Those seem to be the only sevens, and the best available.

Update: Commenter Sam points out another seven of RAGHEAD (a derogatory colloquialism for either an Arab or a Muslim).  That would likely not be allowed on the show, but it is listed and thus RAGHEADS is the eight here.

My selection: REGARDS
Best: RAGHEADS


Round 5: M E S O C S E S E

Bleah, the duplication just keeps coming.  I had SOME, COMES, and MOSSES; I amused myself with ECOMESSES, but although there's certainly been enough of them it's not a word.  After time I wrote down EMCEES as another six.

Not surprisingly, six is the best here.  The others are MESSES and CESSES (CESS: "a cesspit or cesspool").

My selection: MOSSES


Round 6: Target 269 from 100 25 50 3 7 2

The standard method looks appealing, with the offset of 6 being formable as 2*3 and tweaking options around.  I started with the untweaked version 269 = 7*25 + 100 - 2*3 and then safed a number with a tweak: 269 = 3*(100 - 2) - 25.

My selection: 269 = 3*(100 - 2) - 25


Round 7: M E P A S E T D O

I had SEAM, STAMP, PASTED, STAMPEDE, DAMPEST / STAMPED, and STEAMED.

The other eights are STEPDAME (an archaic term for a stepmother) and ADOPTEES.

The other sevens are ADOPTEE, DEMOTES, STOMPED, POMADES (POMADE: "a scented ointment, used for the scalp and hair"), and METOPES (METOPE: "Architecture one of the square spaces, either decorated or plain, between triglyphs in the Doric frieze").

My selection: STAMPEDE


Round 8: Target 219 from 50 100 75 4 10 9

Ah, 219 holds mildly embarrassing memories for me; this time I noticed that I could keep the 10 and 9 aside and just need 200 from the rest, easily finding 219 = 4*50 + 10 + 9.  Then I tried it as 210 + 9 and got 219 = (75 - 50 - 4)*10 + 9, and finally tried the factorisation 3*73 and found 219 = (75 - 100/50)*(9 + 4 - 10).

My selection: 219 = 4*50 + 10 + 9


Round 9: I OMIT ACID

I took a while to make anything of this, eventually approaching the answer via IDIOTIC to find IDIOMATIC.

My selection: IDIOMATIC (10.3s)