NG 96

New game 96 is now available.

Also, Melbournites may like to drop by Late Night Letters and Numbers this month.  I don't know what it's like -- and I'm a little disappointed that it is only an hour long -- but hopefully it will be entertaining.  David will be putting in an appearance for the show on the 19th.


Round 1: R N P T B A E I A

I had PART, BRANT (a mostly American term for a type of goose), PARENT, and PERTAIN.  I actually struggled to find that last within time, despite focusing on precisely those letters.  After time I found the somewhat more obvious PAINTER from the same, and then a bit later saw ANTIRAPE; that pops up in Scrabble lists but is not listed in the Macquarie.

There is an eight, though: ATABRINE, an antimalarial drug.  It has variant spelling ATABRIN, which is one of the other sevens.

The remaining sevens are REPAINT, BEARPIT, and PATINAE (plural of PATINA in the sense of "a broad, shallow dish used by the ancient Romans").  There's also a type of anteater called the ANT BEAR, but that has to be two words.

My selection: PERTAIN


Round 2: D G D S E A U S E

I had SAGE, DEGAUSS ("to demagnetise [...]"), and DEGAUSSED.  I also noted SEGUES and SEDGES as other sixes.

The eight in this mix is DEGASSED, and the other seven is GUESSED.

My selection: DEGAUSSED


Round 3: Target 803 from 9 2 8 6 5 2

I spotted the factor of 11 early (alternately add and subtract digits -- if the result is divisible by 11, so is the original number; in this case 8 - 0 + 3 = 11, so 803 must be divisible by 11).  The cofactor is 73, and I fortunately first saw the 11 as 6 + 5 instead of 9 + 2, which let me easily find the solution 803 = (9*8 + 2/2)*(6 + 5).

This turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 803 = (9*8 + 2/2)*(6 + 5)


Round 4: H C L E S E A E L

I had LECH (collouqial for a LECHER), a highly dubious CLEESH (not valid; I think I was channelling the recollection of CREESHING from episode 100, even though I knew that was not valid either), LACES, an uncertain CHELLAE (invalid; I was thinking of CHELAE, the plural of CHELA: "the nipper-like organ or claw terminating certain limbs of some arthropods"), LECHES, and finally the seven of SHELLAC.

After time I found LEECHES as another seven, and CHEESE as another six.

The other seven is LEACHES (LEACH: "to cause (water, etc.) to percolate through something").

My selection: SHELLAC


Round 5: E O R M N P G U F

I had MORE, PROEM ("an introductory discourse"), MONGER ("a dealer in some commodity"), and wondered about GROUPMEN and UNGROPE.  The latter was not a serious consideration, but I fell from grace by trying GROUPMEN, and it is not valid.  After time I checked on ENGROUP (also not valid) and then saw FROGMEN as a valid seven.

That turns out to be the only seven; the other sixes are MORGUE, REPUGN ("to resist (something)"), and FRENUM (variant spelling of FRAENUM: "a small fold of membrane which checkes or restrains the motion of a part, as the one which binds down the underside of the tongue").

My selection: [invalid -- GROUPMEN]


Round 6: Target 376 from 75 7 1 10 3 2

The target is clearly 375 + 1, which is 5*75 + 1.  There's various ways to make the 5; I started with 376 = (10/2)*75 + 1 and then saw the arguably simpler 376 = (3 + 2)*75 + 1.

My selection: 376 = (10/2)*75 + 1


Round 7: W C F R R E A O D

I had CREW, RACER, FORCE, FORCED, REWARD / DRAWER, and FORWARD.  I also pondered FOREDRAW and WARFORCE, but rightly avoided them.

After time I saw ARROWED as another seven, which led me to see the eight of FARROWED (FARROW: "to produce a litter of pigs").

The other sevens are FROWARD ("perverse; wilfully contrary") and DWARFER (single-syllable rule applied to the adjective DWARF).

My selection: FORWARD


Round 8: Target 161 from 25 6 9 3 5 10

I recognised the target as 7*23, but the standard approach seemed easier and I started with 161 = 6*25 + 9 +5 - 3.  Then I looked at how to make the factorisation work and managed to do so; I was amused that it starts by making a pair of 2's: 161 = (9 - 6/3)*(25 - 10/5).

My selection: 161 = (9 - 6/3)*(25 - 10/5)


Round 9: AIMING RAY

I was presented it in a bit different form but still managed to avoid the -ING pitfall.  It's just a little manipulation of the above to find IMAGINARY.

My selection: IMAGINARY (1.4s)