NG 120

New game 120 is now available.


Round 1: K Q S R I U E G E

I had RISK, QUIRKS, RISQUÉ, and ESQUIRE.

The other seven is QUERIES.  The other sixes are SQUIRE / QUIRES (QUIRE: "a set of 24 uniform sheets of paper"), QUEERS, and REGIUS ("of or belonging to a monarch").

My selection: ESQUIRE


Round 2: D E S U D E N R O

I had USED, DENUDES, and happily spotted the full monty of RESOUNDED; I also noted down an eight of REDOUNDS.  After time I noted that UNDERDOES was another nine, and checked up on DENUDERS but it was not valid.

Some sources would allow a third nine of UNDERDOSE, but it's not in the Macquarie.  The other eights are ENDORSED and SUNDERED.

My selection: RESOUNDED


Round 3: Target 453 from 75 10 8 5 10 2

The target is very near 6*75, and I got completely hung up on that.  Unfortunately making both a 6 and a 3 seems troublesome and all I could manage with that approach was one off with 452 = (8 - 2)*75 + 10/5.

After time I looked at what was actually there, and realised that the 5 would do as a decent approximation to a 6 for those purposes.  The remaining offset is 78, and the rest is easy: 453 = 5*75 + 8*10 - 2.

There's a few other solutions; one idea which I'd half considered had deserved more attention: Instead of 6*75 + 3, try 3*(2*75 + 1).  Put that way it practically writes itself: 453 = (2*75 + 10/10)*(8 - 5).

My selection: 452 = (8 - 2)*75 + 10/5  [1 off]
Best: 453 = 5*75 + 8*10 -2


Round 4: C O T A G I T N E

I had COAT, COATI, a speculative COGITATE that paid off when the final E turned up, and COTTAGE.  Neither the -ING nor -ATION fragments seemed very useful.

There is one other eight: TACONITE ("a low-grade iron ore found in the region of Lake Superior [...]").

The other sevens are COATING / COTINGA (a type of bird), ACONITE, COINAGE, CATTING (CAT as a verb: "to flog with a cat-o'-nine-tails"), COGNATE ("related in origin"), TACTION (an obsolete term for "touch; contact"), and TETANIC ("relating to, of the nature of, or characterised by tetanus") / NICTATE (variant form of NICTITATE: "wink").

My selection: COGITATE


Round 5: D T M U I E C O W

I had TUMID ("swollen, or affected with swelling, as a part of the body"), MUTED, TEDIUM, and DEMOTIC (I've mentioned this a few times recently, so it's just as well I saw it: "of or relating to the common people; popular").

That seems to be the only seven; the other sixes are MEDICO, DICTUM, COEDIT, and MUCOID ("any of a group of substances resembling the mucins, occurring in connective tissue, etc.").

My selection: DEMOTIC


Round 6: Target 651 from 75 50 8 10 5 2

Successive approximation gets the job done handily this time: 651 = 8*75 + 50 + (2*5)/10.  I had time to work out the factorisation 3*7*31, which lent itself to finding 7*93 as another solution path: 651 = (5 + 2)*(75 + 10 + 8).

My selection: 651 = (5 + 2)*(75 + 10 + 8)


Round 7: L R N M A A E N I

I had MARN, an early LAMINAR which paid off at the last vowel (twice this game that's happened, perhaps the only two times it has when I've actually written the speculative word down), LEARN, MINERAL / MANLIER / RAILMEN, RAILMAN, and MELANIN.  I also noted LINEAR MAN for personal amusement.

Seven looks like the best to be done, with the others being MARLINE ("a small cord of two loosely twisted strands, used for seizing"), LINEMAN, LAMINAE (one plural form of LAMINA: "a thin plate, scale, or layer"), and the amino acid ALANINE.

My selection: MINERAL


Round 8: Target 498 from 25 100 3 4 10 7

The nearby 500 is 4*125, and making the offset of 2 is possible with a tweak.  I went with 498 = 4*(100 + 25 - 3) + 10, although just now I have seen an alternative of 498 = 4*(100 + 25 + 7) - 3*10.

My selection: 498 = 4*(100 + 25 - 3) + 10


Round 9: SHIP NAMES

I was presented with these letters in a different form, but although I managed to find EMPHASIS for eight I was not close to solving this.  I ended up guessing SHIPNAMES in desperation, but it's no surprise that was not the answer.

After seeing the correct answer of MISSHAPEN I recalled that this had appeared on the show before in one of the main rounds.  That was in episode 68, a great find by Kathryn Jones that put her right back in contention in a game which looked like it had completely slipped away from her.

My selection: [invalid: SHIPNAMES (22.8s)]
Best: MISSHAPEN