NG 161

New game 161 is now available.


Round 1: R E R E S O T L E

I had SEER, ROSTER, wondered about LEERERS (it's not valid), RESTORE, and contemplated RESTOREE but sensibly avoided it.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are REELERS and STEERER.

My selection: RESTORE


Round 2: I A W P N A I M O

An awkward selection; I had PAWN, MANIA, MIAOW, PIANO, and an uncertain ANOMIA.  I was sufficiently unsure about it that I stayed with MANIA, but ANOMIA is valid: "loss of the ability to name objects or recall names".  After time I also noted WINAMP but that is obviously not valid.

The other six is IMPAWN: "to put in pawn; pledge".

My selection: MANIA
Best: ANOMIA


Round 3: Target 678 from 75 25 2 6 9 4

Knowing the 75-times tables mostly solves this; I misread the target at first and got to 676, but once I realised my error I soon found 678 = 9*75 + 6/2.  I then observed the factorisation 6*113 and found the alternative solution 678 = 6*(75 + 25 + 9 + 4).

My selection: 678 = 9*75 + 6/2


Round 4: I K A E G N E E S

I noted IKEA, of course, and then GAIN and SEEKING.

The other seven is SINKAGE ("the act, process, or amount of sinking").  I'd considered that within time but not thought it was valid -- that's something new learned today.

My selection: SEEKING


Round 5: C A N O H I T A O

I had INCH, CHANT, and ACTION / CATION.  I could not better it, but I did notice that if one of those last two vowels had been an E then INCHOATE ("just begun; incipient") would have been available for eight.

After time I amused myself with ANTIOCH (which is listed, as it turns out, but capitalised as expected) and noted CHITON ("(in ancient Greece) a garment for both sexes, usually worn next to the skin") as another six.

There is a seven available: ACANTHI (plural of ACANTHUS, any one of a certain genus of plants).  The other sixes are ATONIC ("unaccented") and CANTHI (plural of CANTHUS: "the angle or corner on each side of the eye, formed by the junction of the upper and lower lids").

My selection: ACTION
Best: ACANTHI



Round 6: Target 301 from 75 25 50 100 10 3

I started with the straightforward 301 = 3*100 + (50 + 25)/75, then decided to tweak and use the 10 for another solution: 301 = 3*(100 - 75/25) + 10.  Finally I exploited some knowledge of the four large numbers to get to 298 with them, leading to the solution 301 = (75*100 - 50)/25 + 3.

My selection: 301 = 3*100 + (50 + 25)/75


Round 7: L O D S E E A S L

I had SOLD, LODES, LEASED, and LASSOED.  I also wondered about LEADLESS and LOADLESS but thought (correctly so) that they would not be listed.

There is an eight to be had here; the seven of ALLSEED means "any of various many-seeded plants [...]" and thus ALLSEEDS is valid for eight.

The other sevens are ALDOSES (ALDOSE: "a monosaccharose sugar containing the aldehyde group") and ELODEAS (ELODEA being a type of plant).

My selection: LASSOED
Best: ALLSEEDS


Round 8: Target 538 from 25 100 8 4 6 3

I got a bit lost on this one, but considered the descent from 600 early on.  The offset is 62 and fortunately a little tweak finishes it off: 538 = 6*(100 - 8 - 3) + 4.

In retrospect, aiming to make this as 550 - 3*4 would have been the more sensible approach, with the 3 and 4 available for tweaking.  After time I wrote down the other solution 538 = 3*(6*25 - 4) + 100, and while writing this up I have seen 538 = 4*(100 - 3) + 6*25.

My selection: 538 = 6*(100 - 8 - 3) + 4


Round 9: ARAB BRAIN

It was not too hard to unravel BARBARIAN from those letters.

My selection: BARBARIAN (1.6s)