NG 139

New game 139 is now available.


Round 1: G P S R U E I N I

With -ING making an appearance one generally hopes for sevens and longer.  I had RUGS, SPRUE ("an opening through which molten metal is poured into a mould", also "the waste piece of metal cast in this opening"; if you ever built model planes or the like you'd be familiar with the concept as the little rough bits of extra plastic that you sometimes get), wondered about REUSING (it requires the hyphen: RE-USING), PURINES, and INSPIRE.

I wasn't able to usefully use the -ING fragment at all, vexingly.  But after time I found UPRISING as a possible eight -- bother.

My usual preference is only three vowels with -ING.  In this case an I would have turned into a second N, allowing PENGUINS and SPURNING as relatively easy eights.

The other eights are PERUSING / SUPERING (SUPER as a verb: "to treat (land) with superphosphate") and SIRUPING (SIRUP being an American spelling of SYRUP, which has a verb sense of "to cover, fill or sweeten with syrup").

The other sevens are PURSING, UPRISEN, SPINIER, REPUGNS (REPUGN being an obsolete verb meaning "to resist"), PRISING / SPIRING, and PINGERS (PINGER: "a bell, as on timer") / SPRINGE ("a snare for catching small game").

My selection: INSPIRE
Best: UPRISING


Round 2: O O N R E P T O G

I had PRONE, wondered about POTEROO but that did not feel like the right spelling (later checking showed I was trying to recall POTOROO), PRONTO, and a rather dubious TROPOGEN.  I didn't chance it -- just as well since the Macquarie does not know of it -- but it turns out I had at least some basis for thinking it was a word.

After time I spotted NOOTROPE, and I was fortunate not to see it within time.  I'd have definitely chanced it, but it is not listed.  The Macquarie lists NOOTROPIC as "of or relating to a drug which affects the brain, affording improvements in alertness, memory, etc.", and normally one would expect such a drug to then be called a NOOTROPE.  But NOOTROPIC is a recent coinage and (at least according to the Macquarie) the associated known is also NOOTROPIC.

I also spotted OPTERON, but was not at all surprised to find it not listed either.

So it looks like six is the best on offer after all.  The others are PROTON, ENROOT, and TROGON (a type of bird).

My selection: PRONTO


Round 3: Target 497 from 25 3 5 10 4 2

Two options immediately presented themselves: 7*71 or 500 - 3.  I went with the former first to get 497 = (5 + 2)*(3*25 - 4), then the latter to get the simpler 497 = 2*10*25 - 3.

My election: 497 = 2*10*25 - 3


Round 4: I T S L O D M A F

I had LIST, TOILS, SOLID (except I wrote down SOLIT, strangely enough, and that is not valid), and DIATOMS (DIATOM: "any of numerous microscopic, unicellular, marine or freshwater algae having siliceous cell walls").  After time I noted that if that F had been an N then DALTONISM (colourblindness) would have been available for nine.

The other sevens are FLOTSAM, MASTOID ("resembling a breast or nipple"), SOMITAL (adjective derived from SOMITE: "any of the longitudinal series of segments or parts into which the body of certain animals is divided"), and possibly AMIDOLS (AMIDOL being a trademarked photographic developer).

My selection: DIATOMS


Round 5: M N R W A E I O D

I had WARN, MARINE, and AIRWOMEN.

AIRWOMEN looks like the only eight (some sources allow RADIOMEN, but it's not in the Macquarie).  The sevens are MIAOWED, ANEROID, DOWNIER, INARMED (INARM: "to hold in, or as in, the arms"), and ROMAINE (another name for cos lettuce) / MORAINE ("a ridge, mound, or irregular mass of boulders, gravel, sand and clay, transported in or on a glacier").

My selection: AIRWOMEN


Round 6: Target 134 from 100 25 9 8 4 3

Sadly easy: 134 = 100 + 25 + 9.

My selection: 134 = 100 + 25 + 9


Round 7: C C B C A E A E S

Gah, a horror selection.  I had a dubious BACCAE, ABASE, and CEASE.  I realised that I was thinking of BACCHAE (which would have been capitalised even if BACCAE was a variant form of it) so had to stay with five.  That said, some sources do list BACCAE as a plural form of BACCA, meaning a berry.  The Macquarie does not list BACCA, though; my Chambers does, but without any mention of a special plural form.

Five seems to be the limit; the other is CAECA, plural of CAECUM: "a cul-de-sac, especially the one at the beginning of the human large intestine, bearing the vermiform appendix".

My selection: ABASE


Round 8: Target 882 from 50 2 7 9 5 10

The standard method is clear, with the target being 18 away from 18*50.  That gives the factorisation 18*49, but I was not able to make an offset of one after creating the 18 from 2*9.  But there are still tweaking options, and I was able to make another 9, leading to the solution 882 = 2*(9*50 - 7 - 10/5).

Just now I have seen that making another two gives an easier tweak: 882 = 9*(2*50 - (7 - 5)).

My selection: 882 = 2*(9*50 - 7 - 10/5)


Round 9: OIL CONSUL

The -OUS fragment was tempting, as is CON-, but somehow I spotted the -SION ending quickly and found COLLUSION therafter.

My selection: COLLUSION (1.9s)