NG 114

New game 114 is now available.


Round 1: G M O C S E I D N

I had COGS, COMES, MEDICOS, and DEMONIC.  I noticed the -ING fragment, of course, but was not able to make much use of it (COMINGS is valid, mind you).  After time I saw COSIGNED, which I was surprised to find out is not listed in the Macquarie.  So I was lucky to be slow to see it, in a sense.

There are some eights, though: GENOMICS, SMIDGEON, and COGNISED (COGNISE: "to perceive; become conscious of; know").

My selection: DEMONIC
Best: GENOMICS


Round 2: C R R A E T S S I

I had RACER, TRACER, CRATERS, and SCARIEST.  After time I noted ACTRESS as another seven (I'd looked for a -TRESS word within time but not seen it).

It's a good set of letters, but eight is the best; the others are TARSIERS and ERRATICS (ERRATIC as a noun: "an erratic or eccentric person").

My selection: SCARIEST


Round 3: Target 284 from 6 9 2 7 10 9

I got horribly lost in this one.  I started to write down an approximation based on 9*(6*7 - 10), which is 4 away at 288, but although it's tweakable to one away I did not like it.  I did end up finding a solution via 270 + 14 eventually: 284 = 10*9*(9 - 6) + 2*7.  However, I'm confident that was too late, so I've got nothing to declare in this round.

After time I found another solution: 284 = 7*6*(9 - 2) - 10.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: 284 = 10*9*(9 - 6) + 2*7


Round 4: T H T E U M O G T

I had MUTE, MOUTH, TOTEM / MOTET, and OUGHT / TOUGH.

I was not able to better five, but there is one longer word: GHETTO.

My selection: MOUTH
Best: GHETTO


Round 5: C K A E L S H A N

I had CAKE, SLACK, and SHACKLE.

The other sevens are HACKLES, SLACKEN, ASKANCE, ALKANES, and ANLACES (ANLACE: "a medieval dagger or short sword, worn in front of the person").

My selection: SHACKLE


Round 6: Target 837 from 100 25 75 5 7 1

I struggled with this mix, too -- I think the previous numbers round threw me off.  The target is 38 away from 875 (which the 5 and 7 made me think of), so I started with a two-away 839 = 5*(100 + 75 - 7 - 1) and then improved it to one closer with 836 = 7*(100 + 5) + 1 + 75 + 25.

Afterwards I investigated the standard method again; I'd looked at it in time but not properly considered how the 1 would lend itself to tweaking options.  The offset of 12 is manageable as 7 + 5, and 900 is also helpfully divisible by 12.  The solution that resulted is 837 = (7 + 5)*(75 + 1) - (100 - 25).

My selection: 836 = 7*(100 + 5) + 1 + 75 + 25  [1 off]
Best: 837 = (7 + 5)*(75 + 1) - (100 - 25)


Round 7: D W O A A S T P N

I had WOAD, SODA, PANTOS, PANDAS, rejected POSTDAWN, and then found PATDOWNS.

Unfortunately the Macquarie does not list PATDOWN, and six seems to be the limit.  The others are ADAPTS, ADOPTS, SONATA, and SAPOTA (a type of tree).

My selection: [invalid -- PATDOWNS]
Best: PANDAS


Round 8: Target 316 from 100 75 9 1 6 4

My first attempt was incremental: 316 = 4*75 + 9 + 1 + 6.  Then I realised that the approach of 325 - 9 left a decent amount of flexibility and wrote down two other solutions based on that: 316 = 4*100 - 75 - 9 and 316 = (4 - 1)*75 + 100 - 9.

My selection: 316 = 4*100 - 75 - 9


Round 9: STEALS WIN

A tough one!  I cannot report a result for this as I ended up choosing it explicitly, but I highly doubt I would have found SLANTWISE within time in any case.  (I was presented with SLANTWAYS originally, but that form is not listed.  I then adjusted it to SLANTWISE.)

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explicitly]
Best: SLANTWISE