NG 148

New game 148 is now available.


Round 1: O E A H S L H E R

I had SHOE, SHOAL, HOLES, HALOES, SHOALER, and AREOLES (AREOLE: "Biology an areola", which is to say "a small ring of colour, as around a pustule or the human nipple").  Unfortunately I chose the wrong seven as the Macquarie does not list SHOALER.  I've seen it pop up enough times on the word list that I falsely assigned it preference; ah, well.

After time I saw the better option of ARSEHOLE, so I wasn't going to get a maximum in any case.

ARSEHOLE is the only eight; the other seven is HEALERS.

My selection: [invalid -- SHOALER]
Best: ARSEHOLE


Round 2: R R N A O N A I C

The duplication made this tough, and I struggled.  I had ROAN, IRON, CAIRN, and ACORN / CARON.  It's a good thing I did not try CARON, though, as it's not in the Macquarie.

Somewhat better is possible, as commenter Victor proved by finding CARRION.  The other seven is OCARINA.

The sixes are RANCOR (variant spelling of RANCOUR), AIRCON (a nice spot from commenter Jan), and ARNICA (a type of plant) / CARINA ("Botany, Zoology a keel-like part or ridge") / CRANIA (one plural form of CRANIUM).

My selection: CAIRN
Best: CARRION


Round 3: Target 888 from 25 100 50 6 7 8

Very hard to go past the factor of 8 here, and some prodding produced the solution 888 = 8*(100 + 7 + 6 - 50/25).

Approaching it more casually might have been easier, though, as another solution is 888 = 8*100 + 50 + 25 + 7 + 6.

My selection: 888 = (100 + 7 + 6 - 50/25)*8


Round 4: C M B E E I F Q I

Bleah, nothing fits well.  I had MICE and that was it.

Indeed, four looks like the maximum; the others are BEEF, FEME ("a woman or wife"), EMIC ("amounting to a significant unit that functions in contrast with other units in a language or other behavioural system"), and BICE ("blue or green pigment as of carbonates of copper").

My selection: MICE


Round 5: A E I S S D O K D

I had SEAS, ASIDES, SOAKED, and KIDDOES.  I wasn't sure that the E would be allowed in the plural but it turns out both versions are valid.

There's a few other sixes, of which I'll just mention KIDDOS and KISSED.

My selection: KIDDOES


Round 6: Target 121 from 75 100 6 10 2 4

The lack of many odd numbers could make this tricky, but it wasn't too bad.  Since it's the only odd number we'll probably want to add or subtract the 75; the required alternative targets are thus 46 and 196.  I went with the former first to get the solution 121 = 75 + 6 + 4*10, then to the latter for 121 = (100 - 2)*(6 - 4) - 75.  (Needlessly complicated, as 2*100 - 4 - 75 would have done as well, but I had become sidetracked as 196 is the square of 14.)

My selection: 121 = 75 + 6 + 4*10


Round 7: U O E C S G D R P

I had CUES, GROUPED, and PRODUCES.  A shame that last consonant was not an N as otherwise SCROUNGED would be available.

Eight is the best on offer, with the other being SCOURGED.

The other sevens are PRODUCE, SCOURGE, COURSED / SOURCED / SCOURED, CODGERS, GROUSED / DROGUES (DROGUE: "a bucket-like contrivance used as a sea anchor"), and RECOUPS / CROUPES (CROUPE being a variant form of CROUP: "the rump or buttocks of certain animals, especially of a horse").  SPRUCED is not valid, as the verb form of SPRUCE is only part of the phrase SPRUCE UP.

My selection: PRODUCES


Round 8: Target 356 from 25 100 1 4 8 2

I started with descent from 400; the offset is 44, also divisible by 4, and a tweak soon saw me home with 356 = 4*(100 - 8 - 2 - 1).  Then I considered it as 256 + 100 and found an alternative of 356 = (25 + 4 + 2 + 1)*8 + 100.

My selection: 356 = 4*(100 - 8 - 2 - 1)


Round 9: I DIE ON SUN

It took me a bit later than I'd have liked to pull out UNIONISED from this.  I thought that this was UN-IONISED but considered this could also be UNION-ISED; it turns out that only the latter word is listed.  That could have been problematic if it ever turned up on the show!

My selection: UNIONISED (8.1s)