NG 133

New game 133 is now available.


Round 1: F M D L I I A E T

I had FILM, FILMED, and LIMITED.  After time I checked up on MIDLIFE and it is given as one word, no hyphen required.

The other sevens are DELIMIT and FILIATE (a variant form of AFFILIATE).  The latter leads to the only eight of FILIATED.

My selection: LIMITED
Best: FILIATED


Round 2: S T S I H U A F A

I had SITS, SUITS, a dubious TAIFAS (not valid -- I was trying to recall TAFIA: "a kind of rum made from the lower grades of molasses, refuse sugar, etc., in Haiti), a very dubious FAUSTISH (the proper adjective is FAUSTIAN and it clearly needs a capital letter besides), an uncertain SHUFTI (Chambers: "a look; glance", but for some reason the Macquarie only lists the spellings SHOOFTY and SHOOFTEE), and then was relieved to get FAITHS for a safe six.  Of course, somehow I overlooked the possibility of SHUFTIS; I might well have chanced it in search of a seven if I had seen that within time.  Poor vision saved me from an error, it turns out.

There is a seven to be had after all: SHIATSU (listed as a synonym for ACUPRESSURE: "the massage of muscles and application of pressure to acupuncture points to promote wellbeing or to cure illness").

The other sixes are SHIFTS, SHAFTS, TAFIAS, HIATUS, and TUSSAH (variant spelling of TUSSORE: "a coarse tan-coloured silk from India [...]").

My selection: FAITHS
Best: SHIATSU


Round 3: Target 102 from 50 2 8 4 10 10

So many ways to proceed, but I went with a simple 102 = 10*10 + 2.

My selection: 102 = 10*10 + 2


Round 4: T R P I O O G N M

This was looking rather unpromising until the -ING turned up.  I had TRIP, ROOTING, MONITOR, and PROMOTING for nine.  Within time I also added the eights of TROMPING and TROOPING, but obviously nine is the best.

The other eight is MOTORING (some sources would allow PROMOING, but the Macquarie only lists PROMO as a noun).  The other sevens are PORTING, ROMPING, PORTION, MOORING / ROOMING, MOOTING, and TOMPION (variant spelling of TAMPION: "a wooden plug or stopper placed in the muzzle of a piece of ordnance when not in use, to keep out dampness and dust").

My selection: PROMOTING


Round 5: P S L R U O E E S

I had SLURP, POURS, rejected ROPELESS (correctly so), and then a memory from the past got me to SPORULES for eight.  I also noted sevens of SPORULE / LEPROUS, but that was it.

The more common eight is REPULSES, and the others are ESPOUSER / REPOUSSÉ ("(of a design) raised in relief by hammering on the reverse side").

But there is a nine to be had (two full monties in a row!).  A PELORUS is "a plate graduated in degrees for determining the horizontal angle between the ship's heading and the bearing of an observed object", and so PELORUSES is good for nine.

My selection: SPORULES
Best: PELORUSES


Round 6: Target 473 from 75 50 10 3 8 2

Time for the standard method, clearly, with the offset of 2 there already.  It's not too hard to make the 475 to finish it off; my first version was 473 = 8*50 + 75 - 2, then the second was 473 = (8 + 3)*50 - 75 - 2.

My selection: 473 = 8*50 + 75 - 2


Round 7: N R T B E E E C N

Gah, too many E's.  I had BRENT (a type of goose), BENTER (by abuse of the single-syllable rule for adjectives), CENTRE / CENTER, RENNET, wondered about ENCRETE but rightly did not like it, and RECENT.

It looks like six is the maximum here; the others are TENNER, ENTREE / ETERNE (an archaic form of ETERNAL) / TEENER (complete abuse of the single-syllable adjective rule) / RETENE (a certain hydrocarbon), BENNET (a type of herb), and TENREC ("any of several insectivorous mammals of Madagascar [...]").

My selection: CENTRE


Round 8: Target 852 from 75 6 8 9 7 7

The clustering of the small numbers at the high end threw me somewhat, as I wanted to make either an 11 or 12 to multiply the 75 by and it wasn't looking very feasible with addition (at best, costly).  Fortunately I eventually realised that 12 could also be 2*6, and that was enough to get to 900.  The difference was 48 which is 12*4, or more importantly 6*8, and a tweak had me at the answer itself: 852 = 6*((9 - 7)*75 - 8).  Phew!  I was very nearly nowhere at all with this one, so actually solving it felt very lucky.

It turns out there are a few other solutions, and it's possible to do it in the small numbers alone: 852 = ((8 + 7)*9 + 7)*6.  That would be an impressive find!
My selection: 852 = 6*((9 - 7)*75 - 8)


Round 9: SOME BIDDY

I was mostly lost here, but at some point had extracted BODY and that was enough to get me to the answer of DISEMBODY at last.

My selection: DISEMBODY (23.0s)