NG 166

New game 166 is now available.


Round 1: C E O C C E N E L

Gah, horrible start with those three C's and E's.  I had CONE and CLONE, and that was it.

That's the only five, as it turns out; there are a scattering of fours.

My selection: CLONE


Round 2: S D O O T G E N H

I had STOOD, STOOGE, wondered about THONGED (not valid), STOOGED, and GHOSTED.

The other sevens are SOOTHED and HOTDOGS (David mentioned this in episode 338; it is an alternate form of both HOT DOG / HOT-DOG (the food item) and HOT-DOG (the skiing or surfing manoeuvre)).

But there is an eight here after all: STEGODON ("an elephant of the fossil genus or subgenus Stegodon, having ridged teeth").

My selection: GHOSTED
Best: STEGODON


Round 3: Target 397 from 75 25 5 10 2 4

My first thought was to get to 400 and then subtract 3.  Unfortunately I avoided the simplest way to get to 400 and used up the 5 in the process, making things difficult (5*75 + 25 = 400).  But I persisted and figured out how to make the requisite remaining 3, finding the solution 397 = 5*75 + 25 - (10 + 2)/4.

Then I saw the easier way to 400 and the simpler 397 = 4*(75 + 25) - (5 - 2).  Oh, well.  Finally I looked at what would be involved in tweaking upwards from 375 and found 397 = 5*(75 + 4) + 2.

My selection: 397 = 5*75 + 25 - (10 + 2)/4


Round 4: F S A I D P I S E

I had SAID, PASSED, and then thought I had the nine of PASSIFIED.  Something didn't quite seem right and I eventually figured out that I was thinking of PACIFIED, but I'd used up all my thinking time by then.  Bother.  After time I noted SPADES as another six.

The sevens are DAISIES and APSIDES (plural of APSIS: "Astronomy either of two points in an eccentric orbit, one (higher apsis) farthest from the centre of attraction, and the other (lower apsis) nearest to it").

My selection: PASSED
Best: DAISIES


Round 5: D U M E L A T C O

I had MULE, wondered about MULED (the verb sense has frequent use in MMORPGs, but it's not in the Macquarie), AMULET, CALUMET (thanks to Angie Pearce in episode 368: "a long, ornamented tobacco pipe used by northern Native Americans on ceremonial occasions, especially in token of peace"), LOCATED, CLOUTED, and MODULATE.

That's the only eight; the other sevens are MOULTED, MULCTED (MULCT: "to deprive of something by trickery"), and MACULED (MACULE being a variant form of MACKLE: "to become blurred").

My selection: MODULATE


Round 6: Target 937 from 50 75 10 4 1 8

Ah, the joys of 937½ come into play again.  The target is (25*75 - 1)/2, but since we don't have a 25 we have to multiply both parts by 2 to treat it as (50*75 - 2)/4.  Fortunately we can make the 2 with the remaining numbers, giving the solution 937 = (50*75 - (10 - 8))/4.

My selection: 937 = (50*75 - (10 - 8))/4


Round 7: M U N E R B U A R

I had MENU, NUMBER, BARMEN, and then a recollection of episode 199 gave me MANURER for seven.

That seems to be the only seven; URBANER is not explicitly listed, alas.

My selection: MANURER


Round 8: Target 261 from 50 25 4 1 5  7

I spotted the factor of 9 immediately, with cofactor 29.  I got hung up on that approach, so it was fortunate that it worked: 261 = (50/5 - 1)*(25 + 4).  Then I looked at the standard method and it works out rather more easily: 261 = 5*50 + 7 + 4.

My selection: 261 = (50/5 - 1)*(25 + 4)


Round 9: DUD BED ELF

A -ED ending seems rather likely, and playing around with the rest led to BEFUDDLED in (for me) very quick time.

My selection: BEFUDDLED (1.0s)