NG 118

New game 118 is now available.


Round 1: R T K E E O Q C E

I had TREK, TREE, and ROCKET.  I'd hoped for a final U for CROQUET, but no such luck.

It turns out that ROCKET is the only six, and the best to be done.

My selection: ROCKET


Round 2: L D T O U A P S A

I had DOLT, LOUT, ADULT, a dubious OUTLAPS (it is not valid), ADULTS, and SPATULA.

The other seven is UPLOADS.

My selection: SPATULA


Round 3: Target 881 from 25 7 2 9 9 3

The target is nicely near 875, but I was only to use that to get one away with 880 = (3 + 2)*(7*25 + 9/9).

It turns out that the target is unreachable, and there's many ways to get one away.

My selection: 880 = (3 + 2)*(7*25 + 9/9)


Round 4: D M S A E A N O C

I had DAMS, DAMES, NAMES, DAEMONS, and MAENADS (MAENAD: "frenzied or raging woman").  I briefly thought that CODENAMES was there, but fortunately I soon realised that I had the A's and E's around the wrong way (in terms of frequency).

It is possible to do better, though, with the eight of ADENOMAS (ADENOMA: "a tumor originating in a gland").

The other sevens are ADENOMA, DEACONS / ACNODES (ACNODE: "Geometry a node [...] at which the tangents to two curves are imaginary and distinct"), MASONED, and CAEOMAS (one plural form of CAEOMA: "(in fungi) an aecium in which the spores are formed in chains and not enclosed in a peridium"; the other is CAEOMATA)

My selection: DAEMONS
Best: ADENOMAS


Round 5: I O F L R E I N C

I had FOIL, wondered about FOILER (it is not valid), RIFLE, FLORIN ("(in Australia before the introduction of decimal currency in 1966) a silver coin valued at two shillings"), and CONIFER.

The other sevens are ORIFICE and ONEIRIC ("of or relating to dreams").  But there is an eight: OLEFINIC, the adjective derived from OLEFIN (one of a class of alkenes).

My selection: CONIFER
Best: OLEFINIC


Round 6: Target 607 from 25 6 8 3 5 10

I contemplated making this as 625 - 10 - 8 or 600 + 10 - 3, but I was not able to get either to work.  However, getting to 600 via 3*8*25 was a reasonable starting point, and it was clearly going to lead to one away at a worst case.  The remaining numbers don't make the 7 in isolation, but some tweaking saw me home with 607 = 3*(8*25 + 10 - 6) - 5.

My selection: 3*(8*25 + 10 - 6) - 5.


Round 7: R G T E O S T A R

I had OGRE, STORE, GAROTTES, wondered about GAROTTERS (more on that in a bit), and then recalled that I've looked at variants of GAROTTE before and that GARROTTES is valid.  In fact, GARROTTE is the main entry, with GAROTTE and GARROTE listed as variant forms.  (So, either or both of the R and T can be doubled, but at least one must be.)

The issue of derived forms of variant spellings comes up here again -- the Macquarie does list GARROTTER as valid, so it's reasonable to think that GAROTTER should also be valid since it's an application of the same derivation to a variant spelling.  We never got clarification from David about this during the show's run, unfortunately, and the rules as read would disallow it.

The other eights are GARROTES, GARROTTE, possibly GAROTTER by the same reasoning, and ROSTRATE ("furnished with a rostrum or beak").

My selection: GARROTTES


Round 8: Target 897 from 100 1 2 7 6 1

The standard method is pretty clearly the way to start, and the adjustment is not too hard; I went with 897 = (7 + 2)*100 - 6/(1 + 1).  Then I tried instead working up from 800 and found the alternative solution 897 = (7 + 1)*(100 + 2*6) + 1.

My selection: (7 + 1)*(100 + 2*6) + 1


Round 9: LAZY LOUSE

The Z is a clear oddity, and doesn't fit into any usual fragments.  More provocative are -LY and -OUS, and it's a short step from seeing those to finding ZEALOUSLY.

My selection: ZEALOUSLY (5.3s)