NG 145

New game 145 is now available.


Round 1: A I O R F C B O T

I had FAIR, COBRA, FABRIC, FACTOR, wondered if FOOTCAB could be another term for a rickshaw, wondered if BIFACTOR would become a term eventually for "two-factor" authentication, and had to reject BIOFACTOR also.

Thinking about those nonwords cost me time, and just afterwards I saw ROBOTIC for seven.  Oh, well.

ROBOTIC is the only seven.  The other six is AORTIC.

My selection: FABRIC
Best: ROBOTIC


Round 2: R H T U U L R E I

I had RUTH, RULER, RUTILE (a mineral that is a source of titanium), and LUTHIER (a maker of lutes and the like).

LUTHIER looks like the only seven -- HURTLER is not listed.  The other sixes are HURTLE, HURLER, HURTER (not an agent noun, it turns out: "a supporting or strengthening part"), and LITHER (more lithe).

My selection: LUTHIER


Round 3: Target 411 from 25 50 100 9 1 7

This was another case of stumbling onto the right approach, perhaps a bit fortuitously.  My first thought was to work down from 450; the offset of 39 was close to 9*100/25 so this would get me two away.  But while thinking about that I considered working up from 400 instead and that happily worked out with 411 = (9 - 1)*50 + 7 + 100/25.  Phew!

There's a few other ways to get there, one of which does work down from 450: 411 = 9*(50 - 7) + 25 - 1.

My selection: 411 = (9 - 1)*50 + 7 + 100/25


Round 4: L P M I E G K A E

I had LIMP, IMPEL, MAGPIE, and wondered about GAMELIKE and PAGELIKE but had to rejected them.  It turns out that neither is valid, although Scrabble word lists do include GAMELIKE.  After time I finally considered the -AGE fragment and found MILEAGE for seven.

The other sevens are GEMLIKE, APELIKE / PEALIKE, and EPIGEAL (also EPIGEOUS: "growing on or close to the ground").

My selection: MAGPIE
Best: MILEAGE


Round 5: E I A T N S N E D

I had ANTE, TISANE, wondered about INANEST (it is not listed), DETAINS, and pondered but rightly rejected ENSTAINED.  After time I noted other sevens of INTENSE, INTENDS, and ANISEED, and checked up on STANNIDE but it was not listed (although STANNITE is).

There are eights to be had, though.  One which I've mentioned before is the volcanic rock ANDESITE.  There's also ANDESINE (a mineral), and in the realm of uncertain plural forms there are possibly ADENINES (ADENINE: "a purine base [...] present in all living cells, mainly as a subunit of nucleic acids") and DENTINES (DENTINE: "the hard calcareous tissue beneath the enamel of the crown of the tooth and beneath the cementum of the root of the tooth [...]").

My selection: STAINED
Best: ANDESITE


Round 6: Target 966 from 75 50 3 3 9 5

The nearby multiples of 75 require 12 or 13, with the latter looking difficult to form.  Consequently I worked my way up from 900 to get one away with 965 = (9 + 3)*75 + 50 + 3*5.  Then I realised that the offset from 975 was only 9, which we already had, so if 50, 3, 3, 5 could produce 13 then I was home.  This turned out to be the case; the solution I found was 966 = (50/5 + 3)*75 - 9.

There's quite a few other solutions; note that dividing by 3 gives 322, which is only 3 away from 325.  Since we have two 3's this must be a tempting option, and indeed a solution soon drops out: 966 = (5*50 + 75 - 3)*3.

There's several variations of the two previous approaches, but the simplest solution (in some sense) uses the factor of 14: 966 = (75 - 3 - 3)*(9 + 5).

My selection: 966 = (50/5 + 3)*75 - 9


Round 7: I E O C S H F A M

I had ICES, CHOSE, and CHAMOIS.

The other seven is ECHOISM (another term for onomatopoeia).

My selection: CHAMOIS


Round 8: Target 580 from 75 25 7 8 4 2

My first approximation was to get close via 8*75, and a quick tweak got me to the target with 580 = 8*(75 - 2) - 4.  Then I noted the untweaked version of 580 = 8*75 - 4*(7 - 2).

My selection: 580 = 8*(75 - 2) - 4


Round 9: APEX JOUST

Nothing much to report here; one of the conundrums presented to me that I could not use was JUBILATES and it made me think of this so I chose it explicitly.  Victor commented that it seemed familiar, and I agree, but I don't think it was in any of the ones I have covered.

My selection: [none -- chose conundrum explicitly]
Best: JUXTAPOSE