NG 141

New game 141 is now available; apologies for the delay.


Round 1: L N S G E E I T O

I had LENS, GLENS, SEEING, and STEELING / SLEETING.  This is a decent set of consonants, with a few vowel shifts allowing nines, such as LEGATIONS or ELONGATES.

The other eights are GENTILES and EGESTION ("the voiding of the waste of digestion").

My selection: STEELING


Round 2: K G A A D R O I S

I had a nonserious KAGA, DARK, RADIO, RADIOS, and ADAGIOS.

That looks like the only seven; the other sixes are ADAGIO and AROIDS (AROID being one of a family of plants that includes taro).

My selection: ADAGIOS


Round 3: Target 656 from 25 10 8 9 6 3

I got a bit lost on this one, alas.  I tried to apply the standard method but needed to use the 6 to make the 26, ending up three away with 659 = (3*6 + 8)*25 + 9.  Then I tried descending from 675 instead and was able to get one closer with 657 = 25*9*3 - 10 - 8.

Only just after time ran out did I spot the factor of 8.  Whoops!  The cofactor is 82, and a little play produced the solution 656 = 8*(3*25 + 6 + 10 - 9).

Later searching shows that there are a lot of variations of 8*82, of which my favourite sidesteps the use of the 25: 656 = ((9 + 3)*6 + 10)*8.  There is also a solution that does not have this form: 656 = (25*6 + 9*8)*3 - 10.

My selection: 657 = 25*9*3 - 10 - 8  [1 off]
Best: 656 = ((9 + 3)*6 + 10)*8


Round 4: M N N E A I Y D U

I had NAME, NAMED, and UNNAMED.

The other sevens are MUNDANE and UNMINED / MINUEND ("(in mathematics) the number from which another (the subtrahend) is to be subtracted").

My selection: UNNAMED


Round 5: M C M S U O I E B

I had MUMS, COMBS, CESIUM, COMBIS, and COMMIES.

That looks like the only seven; the other sixes are COMMIE, CUBISM, IMBUES, OSMIUM, MISCUE, BIOMES (BIOME: "a major regional ecological community of plants and animals extending over large natural areas, as coral reef, tropical rainforest, etc."), and COMBES (COMBE being a variant spelling of COOMB: "a narrow valley or deep hollow, especially one enclosed on all sides but one").

My selection: COMMIES


Round 6: Target 470 from 75 9 10 5 1 5

I first tweaked my way up from 450 with 470 = (5 + 1)*(75 + 5) - 10, although I see now that I wrote the 10 down rather poorly and it looks a lot like a 6.  That confused me for a while.  In any case, I then looked at the factorisation 5*94 and found the alternative solution 470 = (75 + 10 + 9)*5.

My selection: 470 = (75 + 10 + 9)*5


Round 7: H N T S T I E O H

I had HINTS, TENTHS, wondered about TENTISH (it is not valid), HOTTIES, and -- in a nod to the show's second-last game -- HISTONE ("any of a class of basic proteins as globin, that can release on hydrolysis a high proportion of basic amino acids[...]").

The other seven is SHOTTEN ("(of fish, especially herring) that has recently spawned").  There's also possibly TONITES (TONITE: "an explosive made of guncotton, a nitrate, and a nitro compound, used especially for blasting").

My selection: HISTONE


Round 8: Target 709 from 100 4 9 2 7 5

Boringly trivial: 709 = 7*100 + 9.  I couldn't find anything else even vaguely interesting to try here.

My selection: 709 = 7*100 + 9


Round 9: ZING IN ZOO

After the previous game's two-Y conundrum I could not resist when a two-Z one turned up.  The -ING fragment stands out and couples nicely with a likely -IZE fragment to make -IZING.  A little rearranging turned up the probable OZONIZING and that was too plausible to go past.  It's also correct (OZONIZE being a variant spelling of OZONISE: "to convert (oxygen) into ozone").

My selection: OZONIZING (8.4s)