NG 121

New game 121 is now available.


Round 1: S O T U G A N P E

I had OUST, GOUTS, OUTAGES, SOUTANE (a cassock), UPSTAGE, ONSTAGE, POSTAGE, and TONGUES.  After time I saw SEPTAGON which I might have tried if I'd seen it within time.  The Macquarie does not list it, though, so a lucky miss for me.  I also noted PEANUTS as another seven.

It looks like seven is the best possible; the others are OUTSANG / NOUGATS and POTAGES (POTAGE: "soup").

My selection: OUTAGES


Round 2: H D O D E I T M I

I had HIDE, METHOD, IODIDE, and HEMOID (variant spelling of HAEMOID: "bloodlike").  After time I belatedly spotted one of my pet words for seven: ETHMOID ("[...] a bone of the skull at the root of the nose [...]").

That is the only seven, and the only other six is TIDIED.

Update: Sam points out that I overlooked MIDDIE.  Thanks, Sam!

My selection: METHOD
Best: ETHMOID


Round 3: Target 160 from 50 75 25 5 6 9

The offsets for the standard method are 10 and 15, and the latter is 9 + 6 so that was the way I went.  A little playing around produced the solution 160 = 5*25 + 50 - 9 - 6.  Then I switched tacks and tried to do something with the factorisation 16*10, emerging with the solution 160 = (25 - 9)*50/5.

My selection: 160 = (25 - 9)*50/5


Round 4: R T R A M E C P E

I had TRAM, MATER, CAMPER, TAMPER, and RETRACE.  After time I saw RECARPET for eight.

The other eight is TAMPERER.  There's a fair spread of sevens: TERRACE / CATERER, CREMATE, CAPERER, TRAMPER, PRETERM, TEMPERA ("paint made from pigment ground in water and mixed with an emulsion of egg yolkor some similar substance"), AMERCER (AMERCE: "to punish by inflicting a discretionary penalty of any kind") / CREAMER, and TAPERER / PEARTER (comparative of PEART: "lively or brisk; cheerful" -- apparently a variant of PERT).

My selection: RETRACE
Best: RECARPET


Round 5: F A C O W O H L O

An unpromising set of letters, and too many O's did not help mattes.  I had WOOF, WHOOF (not valid, a little to my surprise), ACHOO, and LOOFAH.  I also pondered COWHOOF, but it was not hard to reject it.

LOOFAH is the only six; the other fives are FOCAL, ALOOF, LOACH (a type of fish), WAHOO (another type of fish), and CHOOF ("the sound produced by exhaust gas, steam, etc., escaping from a relatively slow running engine").

My selection: LOOFAH


Round 6: Target 109 from 100 25 1 6 10 5

Easy to find 109 = 100 + 10 - 1 here; I took the opportunity to practice the small numbers and also found 109 = (6 + 5)*10 - 1.

My selection: 109 = (6 + 5)*10 - 1


Round 7: B U R I N E E T E

I had BURN, BURIN ("a tempered steel rod, with a lozenge-shaped point and a rounded handle, used for engraving furrows in metal"), and TRIBUNE / TURBINE.

Seven looks like the best to be done; the others are RETINUE / REUNITE / UTERINE and TEENIER.

My selection: TURBINE


Round 8: Target 553 from 100 75 9 5 7 6

I wasted a bit of time at the start trying to adjust from 9*75 - 100 but then once I looked at 7*75 I realised that the offset was also divisible by 7 and hence the target factored as 7*79.  That gave me the solution 553 = 7*(75 + 9 - 5).  Then I considered starting with 6*75 instead and that also worked: 553 = 6*75 + 100 + 5 + 7 - 9.  Finally I wrote down another 7*79 solution, because I'd spotted an alternative way to make the 79: 553 = (100 - 75 + 6*9)*7.

My selection: 553 = 7*(75 + 9 - 5)


Round 9: COWS ROWED

I was completely flummoxed by this one.  If I'd seen WOODSCREW I'd have chanced it, but I was completely hung up on the WORD fragment and so got nowhere.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: WOODSCREW