NG 117

New game 117 is ready to be played.


Round 1: S B E U R L I T A

Ooh, good letters to start off the game.  I had RUBES, BRUISE, BLISTER, BURLIEST, and SUITABLE.

The other eights are RUSTABLE / BALUSTER ("one of a series of short pillar-like supports (usually of stone) for a railing or coping, as of a parapet") and LIBRATES (LIBRATE: "to oscillate; sway"; one of David's good finds from episode 355).

But there is a nine!  It is BRUTALISE.

My selection: SUITABLE
Best: BRUTALISE


Round 2: S K P E U E F C L

I had PUKES, KEEPS, FLECKS, SUCKLE, and FLUKES.

I had looked at the -ECKLE ending, but missed the best answer of SPECKLE.  The other sixes are PLUCKS, CLEEKS (CLEEK: "a golf club having an iron head with a long, narrow face"), CUPELS (CUPEL: "a small cup-like porous vessel, usually made of bone ash, used in assaying, as for separating gold and silver from lead"), CLEPES (CLEPE: "Archaic to call; name"), and FESCUE (one of a few types of grass).

My selection: FLUKES
Best: SPECKLE


Round 3: Target 856 from 75 100 5 3 1 6

I noted that the target was near the handy 875, and the offset of 19 could be made from the rest without tweaking: 856 = 5*(100 + 75) - 3*6 - 1.  Then I looked at the factorisation 8*107 and found the alternative solution 856 = (5 + 3)*(100 + 6 + 1).

My selection: 856 = (5 + 3)*(100 + 6 + 1)


Round 4: T X S O A O R N S

I had OATS, ROOST, erroneously had SONATA and SONATAS but caught that error, then a dubious TAXONS (as I thought, the plural form of TAXON -- "a term used to denote any taxonomic category, as species, genus, etc." -- is TAXA), and ROOSTS.

There are two sevens, the first of which I've encountered before: RATOONS (RATOON being "a sprout or shoot from the root of a plant (especially a sugar cane) after it has been cropped").  The other seven is an anagram of it: SANTOOR ("an Arab musical instrument similar to a dulcimer"), and of course that means that SANTOORS is there for eight.

My selection: ROOSTS
Best: SANTOORS


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

After the first six letters I really wanted an A for GODETIA, although by the end that would have allowed the longer GAROTTED.  Without it, I had DIET, EDITOR, TORRID, wondered about ROTORED (not valid), and ROOTIER.

That seems to be the only seven (and one I've only found because it comes up often enough here).

My selection: ROOTIER


Round 6: Target 199 from 75 5 3 9 7 8

I started off with a one-away 200 = (75/3)*8, but improving on it was surprisingly difficult.  When I considered working down from 3*75 then things looked rather better; the offset of 26 surely was formable from the rest, particularly with the 3 available for tweaking.  So it was, and I found the solution 199 = 75*3 - 5*7 + 9.

After time I noted a variation of the same idea with 199 = 3*(75 - 9) + 8 - 7, and a solution via 192 + 7: 199 = (75/5 + 9)*8 + 7.

My selection: 199 = 75*3 - 5*7 + 9


Round 7: R W I E C H I A B

Not the best-matching set of letters, for sure.  I had WIRE, RICE, REACH, and BREACH.

Six is the best to be done; the other is CAHIER ("a report of the proceedings of any body").  There were two near-misses: The Macquarie puts ACHY in the run-on entries for ACHE, so ACHIER is not explicitly listed (as it needs to be), and CHAW is listed as meaning CHEW, but although CHEWER is given CHAWER is not.

My selection: BREACH


Round 8: Target 899 from 50 5 6 7 1 4

With the 1 present the aim is clearly to get to 900 as 50*18; I went with 899 = (5 + 6 + 7)*50 - 1 at first, then noted the alternative of 899 = (7 - 4)*6*50 - 1.

My selection: 899 = (5 + 6 + 7)*50 - 1


Round 9: ICY SMITES

I very nearly jumped in early with SYSTEMIC, but it's short a letter.  The -IEST and -ITY fragments were distracting for a while, but somehow I stumbled on the right answer of MYSTICISE within time.

My selection: MYSTICISE (25.6s)