NG 167

New game 167 is now available.


Round 1: T U M S E I H D A

Good letters, but just not quite coming together for a really long word.  I had MUST, MUTES, SMITHED, and MISDATE.  After time I noted STADIUM as another seven, and checked up on HUMIDEST but as expected it was not given.

It looks like seven is the limit, with the others being ATHEISM and possible TEDIUMS.

My selection: MISDATE


Round 2: L O F T A N E H I

I had LOFT, FLOAT, ETALON (a type of interferometer), and ETHANOL.

There's a few other sevens here, all of which I overlooked: TOENAIL / ELATION, INFLATE, HOTLINE / NEOLITH ("a person who lived in the Neolithic period"), and FOLIATE ("having or covered with leaves").  But the eight in the mix is HALFTONE ("Painting, Photography, etc. a value intermediate between high light and deep shade").

My selection: ETHANOL
Best: HALFTONE


Round 3: Target 766 from 25 100 7 1 5 10

My first thought was to get near with 7*100, then a small tweak took me closer and the rest of the numbers worked out to give a solution: 766 = 7*(100 + 10) - (5 - 1).

I overlooked the standard method; had I paid attention to it I might have reasoned as follows.  The target is 775 - 9, and we can make the 9 as 10 - 1.  Getting the 775 is a little tricky, but it can be made as 875 - 100; the resulting solution is 766 = 5*7*25 - 100 - (10 - 1).

The only other solution is the hard-to-spot 766 = (25 + 100/5)*(10 + 7) + 1.

My selection: 766 = 7*(100 + 10) - (5 - 1)


Round 4: E C T I F D A S O

I had CITE, CITED, FACETS, and FOISTED.  I'd been anticipating another I for DEFICITS and it kind of threw me when it did not arrive.  Mind you, I'd have been quite happy with a final A for FASCIATED.

A minute or so after time I finally looked at -OID and found FACTOIDS for eight.

That looks like the only eight; the other sevens are FACTOID, COASTED, TOADIES / IODATES, DACOITS (DACOIT: "Indian English one of a band of armed thieves; bandit"), COEDITS / CESTOID ("(of worms) ribbon-like"), and maybe CODEIAS (CODEIA being another name for CODEINE).

My selection: FOISTED
Best: FACTOIDS


Round 5: O I E P C O Y R A

I had COPE, COPIER, COOPER ("someone who makes or repairs vessels formed of staves and hoops, as casks, barrels, tubs, etc."), and PIRACY (mildly amused to have both COPIER and PIRACY in the mix).  Looking at all those vowels for a brief moment I thought that CAPOEIRA ("an energetic, stylised dance of Brazil, based on a martial art developed by African slaves") was there but I needed a second A for that, not a second O.

After time I checked up on COOPERY, which I had not even written down (careless).  It turns out to be valid: "a cooper's shop" (amongst a couple of related meanings).  That looks like the only seven here.

My selection: PIRACY
Best: COOPERY


Round 6: Target 232 from 50 75 10 6 2 5

Given those numbers my first thought was to make it as 250 - 18, and I took the more complicated route: 232 = 10*(75 - 50) + 6*(5 - 2).  The simpler one, seen now, is 232 = 5*50 - 10 - 6 - 2.  Heh.

Still within time, I looked to make this as 230 + 2 and found 232 = 5*(50 - 6) + 10 + 2.  Finally I considered the factor of 2 and found 232 = (75 + 50 - 10 - 5 + 6)*2.

My selection: 232 = 10*(75 - 50) + 6*(5 - 2)


Round 7: L D G E E I M N R

I had GELD, LEDGE, and MINGLED / MELDING.  It really felt like longer should be possible, but I could not see such.  I rightly rejected REMELDING / REMINGLED in the process, and after time checked up on MIDGREEN, unsurprised to find it not listed.  I also noted GREMLIN as another seven, but GREMLINED is not valid.

The eight I was looking for was LINGERED, or its anagrams ENGIRDLE / REEDLING (not a small reed, but another name for the bearded tit).  There's a decent number of other sevens, of which I'll just mention REGIMEN and REIGNED.

My selection: MINGLED
Best: LINGERED


Round 8: Target 532 from 100 75 5 6 9 5

Gah, I struggled here.  Knowledge of the 75-times table soon gives the factorisation 7*76, and I really wanted to be able to use that, or variants 14*38, 28*19.  I was not able to get much of anywhere with those, though, and had to scramble a bit to get down a one-away 531 = 9*(75 - 5) - 100 + 6 - 5.

After time I considered working down from 600.  The offset is 68, and tweaking allows us to make 54 of that.  The remainder is 14 with the numbers 75, 5, and 5 available.  This turns out to be manageable, using a bit of technique that I've often had trouble with in the past but managed to get working this time: 532 = 6*(100 - 9) - (75 - 5)/5.  This turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 531 = 9*(75 - 5) - 100 + 6 - 5  [1 off]
Best: 532 = 6*(100 - 9) - (75 - 5)/5


Round 9: NECK BINGO

My selection: BECKONING (2.4s)