NG 125

New game 125 is now ready.


Round 1: C O L A U B S E L

I had COAL, COALS, LOCALS, sadly rejected OSCULABLE, and CALLOUS.  After time I noted SOLUBLE as another seven, and checked up on SUBLOCALE but was not surprised to see that it was not listed.

It looks like seven is the best; some sources might allow CLOSABLE but not the Macquarie (nor Chambers).  The other sevens are LOCALES, LOBULES (LOBULE: "a small lobe"), BASCULE ("a device operating like a balance or seesaw, especially an arrangement of a movable bridge [...] by which the rising floor or section is counterbalanced by a weight"), and OCELLUS ("an eye-like spot, as on a peacock feather").  In the realm of uncertain plural forms BOUCLÉ is "yarn with loops, which produces a woven or knitted fabric with rough appearance"; that seems like a mass noun to me, but maybe BOUCLÉS might get the nod.

My selection: CALLOUS


Round 2: F B I I T O A D A

I had TIBIA, written down early, and fortunately the A arrived; unfortunately I was not able to find anything else!  After time, though, I looked at the BIO- beginning and immediately saw BIODATA for seven.

Aside from BIODATA five looks like the best on offer; the other fives are IDIOT, ABAFT (a nautical term for "in the rear of; behind"), BIOTA ("the total animal and plant life of a region, or sometimes a period, as seen collectively and interdependently"), BIFID ("cleft into two parts or lobes"), TABID (variant form of TABETIC: "someone affect with tabes", where TABES is "syphilis of the spinal cord and its appendages [...]"), and TAFIA ("a kind of rum made from the lower grades of molasses, refuse sugar, etc., in Haiti").

My selection: TIBIA
Best: BIODATA


Round 3: Target 335 from 50 25 5 7 3 8

The first part to stand out was 7*5 = 35, but I was not able to make 300 from the rest, even with tweaking.  Instead I looked at the factor of 5; the cofactor is 67 and so a solution follows: 335 = (50 + 25 - 8)*5.  Then I looked at making it as 350 - 15 and that worked out quite easily too: 335 = 7*50 - 3*5.

(Seen just now: The offset of 10 from 325 also works via 335 = (8 + 5)*25 + 7 + 3.)

My selection: 335 = 7*50 - 3*5


Round 4: F P A E S I S N O

I had APES, SPIES, PANSIES, and PASSION.  I also noted that an S instead of the F would allow SOAPINESS for nine, and considered SAPONISE but correctly realised that SAPONIFY was the appropriate word for that idea.

Seven appears to the best on offer; the other is SPINOSE ("full of spines").

My selection: PASSION


Round 5: P E O R R A N E G

I had ROPE, wondered about ROPER (not valid), APRON, ORANGE, GROANER, and then was rather pleased to spot the unusual PARERGON.  That's not a misspelling of PARAGON; rather, it means "subordinate or secondary work, standing apart from one's main occupation".  (The plural form is PARERGA, incidentally.)  I know that thanks to the first quarter-final of series 60 of Countdown, where the exceptional Kirk Bevins found it in the first round to set the tone of the match.  (YouTube has the episode: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.)

That is the only eight, unsurprisingly.  The other seven is PEONAGE.

My selection: PARERGON


Round 6: Target 422 from 50 75 25 4 1 2

I was having trouble getting close at first, but managed to get one away with 421 = 4*(75 + 25 - 1) + 50/2.  Then I found the simpler 423 = (4 + 1)*75 + 50 - 2, but was not able to reach the target.  I was most of the way to a solution within time, though, and finished it just afterwards; the key part was to think of 400 as 8*50.  Then 75/25 is 3, which multiplied by the 8 gets two away; the leftover 1 seems like it might only get to one off, but remembering that the 8 is actually 2*4 lets a tweak take care of the rest: 422 = 2*(4*(50 + 75/25) - 1).

This turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 423 = (4 + 1)*75 + 50 - 2
Best: 422 = 2*(4*(50 + 75/25) - 1)


Round 7: C S O C E T K I S

I had COST, COSEC, SOCKET, and then struggled.  Somehow I missed SOCKETS, and the only candidate longer than six I could think of was STOCKIES.  I hoped this would be a colloquialism for a stock-driver, but it is not valid.  I don't think I'd have tried it if I had the safe SOCKETS for seven, but that oversight cost me.  After time I found SOCKETS and then the eight of COCKIEST.

COCKIEST is the only eight; the other sevens are SICKEST, COSIEST, COCKIES (plural of COCKY, which can be colloquial for either a cockatoo or a cockroach"), KETOSIS ("the condition of having elevated levels of ketone bodies in the blood and urine, as in diabetes, acidosis, etc."), and CISCOES (plural of CISCO, a type of fish).

My selection: [invalid -- STOCKIES]
Best: COCKIEST


Round 8: Target 448 from 100 25 75 10 5 3

My first thought was to try and make it as 450 - 2, and the 450 I thought of happily left the 10 and 5 available to make the offset of 2: 448 = 3*(100 + 75 - 25) - 10/5.

My selection: 448 = 3*(100 + 75 - 25) - 10/5


Round 9: HI, PUNY PAL

I had a brief distraction with PLAY, but the -LY ending and the UN- fragment lead relatively easily to UNHAPPILY.

My selection: UNHAPPILY (1.4s)