NG 123

New game 123 is now ready to be played.


Round 1: M O T E E H D O C

I had TOME, EMOTE, THEME, METHOD, ETCHED, and MOOCHED (which makes me think of this).  After time I noted another six of DOTCOM ("a company trading over the internet").

MOOCHED looks like the only seven; the other sixes are DEMOTE / EMOTED, HOOTED, MOOTED, ECHOED, COOEED, THEMED, and COMEDO (another term for a blackhead).

My selection: MOOCHED


Round 2: L G I U N I A D A

I had LUNG, AILING, wondered about LINGUA (I was thinking as part of the phrase LINGUA FRANCA, which obviously would not work, but it turns out to have a meaning in isolation: "the tongue or a part like a tongue"), LAUDING (LAUD: "to praise; extol"), IGUANID ("any lizard of the family Iguanidae [...]"), and LANGUID.  After time I noted DIALING as another seven.

There's one other seven: GLIADIN ("a prolamine obtained from wheat and rye").

My selection: LANGUID


Round 3: Target 954 from 50 25 2 2 1 8

The offset from 950 is 4, which is easy to make as 2*2 and leaves tweaking options open.  But first I got distracted by the factorisation 18*53, which is nearly usable but not quite.  Switching tacks when that did not work I thought I might have to simply try and get close.  I noted that 900 = 2*(8 + 1)*50 was manageable, and 2*25 got another 50 to reach 950.  That's four away, but the common factor of 2 could be pulled out to leave a spare 2, and that was exactly the amount needed to complete the tweak and give the solution 954 = 2*((8 + 1)*50 + 25 + 2).

Unfortunately, I was in a hurry writing it down and left out the "+ 1" part of the computation.  Oops.  Even more disappointing, it turns out I would have had a rare maximal game if not for this careless error.

It turns out that is the only solution, too.

My selection: [invalid]
Best: 954 = 2*((8 + 1)*50 + 25 + 2)


Round 4: P B A E D I R R U

I had BEAD, ABIDE, PARRIED, UPBRAID, and wondered about UPBRAIDER.  I also wrote down the possible other sevens of BRAIDER (valid) / REBRAID (not valid).  I decided to chance UPBRAIDER, and it is listed -- woohoo!

UPBRAIDER is obviously the best to be done; the next best are sevens, and they've all been listed.

My selection: UPBRAIDER


Round 5: T E I B N O M E T

I had BITE and EBONITE (another name for the hard rubber vulcanite).  After time I noted a couple of sixes of BITTEN and MITTEN.

Commenter Sam points out the other seven possible here: ONETIME.  Normally one would expect that to require a hyphen, and indeed the Macquarie does list ONE-TIME ("having been (as specified) at one time"); but it also lists ONETIME as a single word, as part of Aboriginal English meaning simply "once".

There's a few other sixes, of which I'll just mention ENTOMB.

My selection: EBONITE


Round 6: Target 332 from 100 50 75 2 6 9

The target is 18 away from 350 and the 18 is easily made as 2*9 with tweaking options open.  A little thought gave the solution 332 = 9*(50 - 2) - 100 (an untweaked version of the same approach that I have just seen is 332 = 6*75 - 100 - 2*9).  Then I realised that the offset of 7 from 325 was also achievable as 9 - 2, and so found the alternative solution 332 = 6*50 + 100 - 75 + 9 - 2.

My selection: 332 = 9*(50 - 2) - 100


Round 7: S Z E R U C L E T

I had RUES, CURSE, RECLUSE, CLUSTER, and then the -TURE fragment led me to LECTURES.

The other eight is CRUELEST.  The other sevens are LECTURE, CUTLERS (CUTLER: "someone who makes, sells, or repairs knives and other cutting instruments"), TERCELS (TERCEL: "a male hawk trained for falconry, especially the male peregrine falcon"), and finally one using the Z: SELTZER.

My selection: LECTURES


Round 8: Target 886 from 100 25 75 10 10 6

It would be nice to make this as 10*88 + 6, but that doesn't seem feasible (although if one accidentally reuses the 6 then 20*44 + 6 is easy enough).  I started off with a two-away 884 = 10*(75 + 10 + 100/25) - 6, then a bit later found one of many one-aways with 885 = 75*10 + 100 + 25 + 10.

It turns out that the target is not reachable, so one away is the best that can be done.

My selection: 885 = 75*10 + 100 + 25 + 10  [1 off]


Round 9: SLUR TEMPS

I pulled out the -LESS fragment early and found TRUMPLESS, but spent a while longer looking for something better before trying it.  It turns out to be the intended answer, however.

My selection: TRUMPLESS (23.6s)