NG 115

New game 115 is now available.


Round 1: R O E C B A L F A

I had CORE, COBRA, and hoped for a final A to give ALBACORE.  It turned up, and so I had my eight.  I also wrote down ARABLE as a six.

ALBACORE looks like the only eight, and the only seven is ACEROLA (a type of tree).

The other sixes are ORACLE / COALER ("a railway, ship, etc., used mainly to haul or supply coal"), CARAFE, LOAFER / FLORAE (one plural form of FLORA), FABLER (someone who tells or writes fablers), BOREAL ("relating to the north wind"), AREOLA ("a small ring of colour, as around a pustule or the human nipple"), and CORBEL ("a supporting projection of stone, wood, etc., on the face of a wall").

My selection: ALBACORE


Round 2: S N P I O R D I A

I had SNIP, ROSIN, PRISON, and ASPIRIN.  I had the feeling I was missing something familiar, and of course I found it easily after time.  It's a bit annoying, actually -- I had seen PARISON ("a preliminary shape or blank, from which a glass article is to be formed") within time, but then got immediately distracted by DIAPASON ("a melody or strain").  I started writing that down, but when I realised it used a second A that I did not have I abandoned it.  Unfortunately I had forgotten PARISON in the meantime; I recalled it afterwards and wrote it down, which led me immediately to PONIARDS for eight.

That does look like the only eight; the other sevens are PONIARD / PADRONI (plural of PADRONE: "a master, as of a vessel"), INROADS / ORDAINS, PARDONS, SOPRANI (one plural form of SOPRANO), SORDINI (plural of SORDINO, a synonym of MUTE in the sense of "a mechanical device of various shapes and materials for muffling the tone of a musical instrument"), SINOPIA ("a red-brown earth pigment"), SPAROID ("resembling or relating to the Sparidae, a family of deep-bodied marine fishes, such as the Australian snapper and bream"), and SPIROID ("resembling a spiral").

My selection: ASPIRIN
Best: PONIARDS


Round 3: Target 763 from 100 1 3 10 5 2

Noticing the factor of 7 here is easy enough; the cofactor is 109, and a little work produces the solution 763 = (5 + 2)*(100 + 10 - 1).  I also tried working down from 800, finding the alternative solution 763 = (10 - 2)*(100 - 3 - 1) - 5.

My selection: 763 = (5 + 2)*(100 + 10 - 1)


Round 4: N H S O O K R E U

I had HOONS, HONKS, HONORS, UNHORSE, UNHOOKS, wondered about UNHOOKERS, and HOOKERS.  After time I noted other sevens of ONEROUS and SNOOKER.

I decided that UNHOOKERS was too unlikely, and that was the correct call.  Seven seems to be the limit, with the others being HONOURS, ONSHORE, and HUNKERS.  This last is not a verb sense of HUNKER -- that sense is only given as part of the phrase HUNKER DOWN -- but rather a plural noun synonymous with "the haunches".

My selection: UNHORSE


Round 5: E O I T N R G N E

I had TONE, ORIENT (which I was pleased to see in the first six letters as it is one of my blind spots), RENTING, and rejected RETONING.  I had spent a small while looking at the -ING words without finding longer -- I had (correctly as it turns out) thought that there were some interesting non -ING words to be found -- but somehow overlooked ENTERING, which I found shortly after time.  (I also noted that adding an A to the mix would make GENERATION, but ten-letter words are no good.)

There are two other eights: NITROGEN and ROENTGEN ("a non-SI unit of measurement of exposure to ionising radiation [...]").

The other sevens are TREEING / INTEGER, INTONER / TERNION ("a set or group of three; a triad"), INTERNE (variant spelling of INTERN in the sense of "a resident member of the medical staff of a hospital, usually a recent graduate of a university still in partial training"), GENITOR ("a father in the biological sense, sometimes distinguished from a legal or acting father"), ENTERON ("the alimentary canal; the digestive tract"), and RINGENT ("gaping").

My selection: RENTING
Best: ENTERING


Round 6: Target 875 from 75 50 3 5 5 9

As I've mentioned before, 875 is 5*175 or 7*125, which is why it is often formable in mixes with two or more large numbers.  The 125 is clearly easier, and in short order I had 875 = (5 + 5 - 3)*(75 + 50).  Playing around with other approaches produced other solutions: 875 = (9 + 5 - 3)*75 + 50, 875 = (9 + 3)*75 - 5*5, and 875 = (3*75 - 50)*5.

My selection: 875 = (3*75 - 50)*5


Round 7: T W C E E A D F E

I had TWEE, ACTED, DEFACE, and FACETED.

That looks like the only seven, but there is an eight: DEFECATE.

The other sixes are DEFECT, WAFTED, DEFEAT, and FACETE ("facetious; witty").

My selection: FACETED
Best: DEFECATE


Round 8: Target 681 from 25 75 3 4 7 8

The target is 675 + 6, and 675 is 9*75, but neither the 9 nor the 6 can be made cheaply enough.  Fortunately I noticed that the target is also 625 + 56, and that worked much better.  I started with the tweaked version 681 = 8*(75 + 7) + 25 and then added the untweaked one of 681 = 25*75/3 + 7*8.

My selection: 681 = 8*(75 + 7) + 25


Round 9: HAREM NEWS

I didn't come close to solving this one, which admittedly is more familiar in the feminine form.  This was particularly amusing (in a way) since in the form the conundrum was presented to me I only needed to move one letter to reveal the answer.  Oh, well. *chuckles*

My selection: [no answer]
Best: WASHERMEN