NG 132

New game 132 is now available.


Round 1: B P T N A I O E L

I struggled with this one rather more than I liked; I had PANT, PAINT, OBTAIN, and NOTABLE.  I spent considerable time trying the -ABLE, -IBLE, and -ATION endings without success -- POINTABLE was obvious, but equally obviously not in the Macquarie (although it does appear in some Scrabble lists) -- and that was an ultimately unprofitable line once a seven had been found.

After time I noted down other sevens of ELATION / TOENAIL, POTABLE, POLENTA, and then a look at BONE turned up TAILBONE for eight.

TAILBONE seems to be the only eight (Chambers would allow ANTIPOLE as another).  The other sevens are BIPLANE, NIOBATE, OPALINE ("of or like opal; opalescent"), PANTILE ("a roofing tile straight in its length but with an S-shaped cross-section so that the downward side of one tile overlaps the upward side of another tile"), and POTLINE ("a succession of electrolytic reduction cells used to make such metals as aluminium from a fused electrolyte").  TOP-LINE is also listed, but only with the hyphen.

My selection: NOTABLE
Best: TAILBONE


Round 2: R S H F O A O N I

I had SOAR, ROOFS (aside: ROOVES is not a valid plural form of ROOF, but turns out to be valid for another reason; a ROOVE is "a small copper washer used when copper nails are being clinched"), and FASHION.

The other seven here is OARFISH; INSOFAR is also in the Macquarie, but only as part of the phrase INSOFAR AS.

My selection: FASHION


Round 3: Target 130 from 100 50 8 10 7 6

Lots of ways to proceed here, but that factor of 10 was hard to go past and I stayed with the simple 130 = (7 + 6)*10.

My selection: 130 = (7 + 6)*10


Round 4: H G R M I A U K L

Ergh, what a mix.  I had GRIM, HAIR, LAUGH, MIAUL (variant spelling of MEOW), and MURAL.  A little after time ran out I saw a word from a few weeks back (NG 111, as it turns out): The six of HAMULI (plural of HAMULUS: "a small hook or hooklike process, as at the end of a bone").

That seems to be the only six; MUGHAL is listed (a variant spelling of MOGUL, in the sense of a ruler of India) but must be capitalised.  There's many other fives of which I'll just mention HAIKU.

My selection: LAUGH
Best: HAMULI


Round 5: E I A U D C P S C

I had IDEA, ADIEU, SPACED, and wondered about CAPISCE.  I correctly decided that it would not be listed, but that only left me with a six.  After time I noted other sixes of SAUCED / CAUSED and PAUSED, and checked on UPCASED but it is not valid.

There were, however, some findable sevens.  The most common is ACCUSED and the others are ICECAPS / IPECACS (IPECAC being a type of plant), AUSPICE ("a propitious circumstance"; it also has a verb sense), and CADUCEI (plural of CADUCEUS: "a [...] staff used as an emblem of the medical profession and as the insignia of the Medical Corps of the armed services").

But there is an eight!  It is CAUDICES, the plural of CAUDEX ("the axis of a plant, including both stem and root").

My selection: SPACED
Best: CAUDICES


Round 6: Target 230 from 100 6 9 3 5 5

Another target divisible by 10, but this one proved a bit more awkward despite being fairly low.  I wanted to use the factor of 5 (the target being 5*46), and the 100 meant there was leeway to make either 26 or 66 instead.  I got the first of those to work with 230 = (9*3 + 5 - 6)*5 + 100, but can't help but feel I made heavy weather of it.  I followed up with using 66 via 230 = (9 + 5 - 3)*6*5 - 100, and then more simply worked down from 300 with 230 = 3*100 - 5*(9 + 5).

Simpler (seen but not written down) was probably 230 = (5 - 3)*100 + 5*6.

My selection: 230 = (9*3 + 5 - 6)*5 + 100


Round 7: A W A S U Q E N S

I had SQUAW, SQUAWS, SAUNAS, and QUEANS (QUEAN: "Archaic a bold, impudent woman; a shrew; a hussy").

The seven lurking in this mix is NAUSEAS -- a tough one to spot!  The other sixes are NAUSEA and ANUSES.

My selection: SAUNAS
Best: NAUSEAS


Round 8: Target 234 from 50 75 9 4 10 1

I spotted the factor of 9 at once, with cofactor 26.  It was a short step to 234 = 9*(75 - 50 + 1), and then I also noted down the perhaps simpler option of 234 = (4 - 1)*75 + 9.

My selection: 234 = 9*(75 - 50 + 1)


Round 9: UNLIT GAUL

I observed LINGUAL, but it did not extend.  Pulling out the -ING fragment put me on the right track, and although the letter pattern is unusual ULULATING was there to be found (ULULATE: "to howl, as a dog or wolf").

My selection: ULULATING (2.8s)