NG 168

New game 168 is now available.


Round 1: S O N C E T G I D

I had CONS, CONES, COSTING, CONGEST, CESTOID ("(of worms) ribbon-like"), and SECONDI (plural of SECONDO: "the second or lower part in a duet, especially in piano duets").

There's quite a few sevens in this mix, but the eight is COGNISED.

My selection: COSTING
Best: COGNISED


Round 2: E L E S P A C H D

I had EELS, SLEEP, ESCAPE, CHAPELS, PEACHES, and ESCAPED.  After time I contemplated the amusement of SHEEPCLAD but never seriously.

There's a good many sevens again, but the eights are both derived from the same word.  To PLEACH is "to plash or interweave (growing branches, vines, etc.), as for a hedge or arbour", and thus PLEACHES and PLEACHED are both valid.

My selection: CHAPELS
Best: PLEACHES


Round 3: Target 881 from 50 100 7 4 2 1

I flailed around a bit here; my usual approach is to try and get close first and then see about adjusting.  In this instance that meant getting to 900, and there are a few ways to there but I started with 6*150.  The best tweak I could find for that got me to three away with 884 = (7 - 1)*(100 + 50 - 2) - 4.  Then I took a different approach to the 900 as 700 + 200, and that allowed a tweak for one better with 879 = 7*(100 - 2 - 1) + 4*50.  Finally I looked at getting to 875 and adjusting, getting to one off with 882 = 7*(100 + 50/2 + 1).

It turns out that one off is the best that can be done here.

My selection: 882 = 7*(100 + 50/2 + 1)  [1 off]


Round 4: L A F I C S A S L

I had FAIL, FAILS, and ASSAIL.  After time I noted LILACS as another six, and then the sevens of FACIALS / FASCIAL (adjective derived from FASCIA: "a band or fillet").  I did get distracted a little here by the almost-nines of CLASSICAL and FALLACIES.

The other sevens are FISCALS and SCILLAS (SCILLA being a kind of herb).

My selection: ASSAIL
Best: FACIALS


Round 5: U R N U I L D S A

I had RUIN, URINALS, and -- aided by the relatively recent NG 146 -- DIURNALS (DIURNAL as a noun: "Liturgy a service-book containing offices for the daily hours of prayer").  I also noted SUNDIAL as another seven, and after time DURIANS also.

That looks like the only eight; the other sevens are DIURNAL, INSULAR, and possibly ALDRINS (ALDRIN: "Chemistry an organo-chlorine compound highly toxic to animal life and used as an insecticide. [trademark]").

My selection: DIURNALS


Round 6: Target 309 from 50 100 25 4 2 6

I struggled with these numbers; the balanced mix is often tricky to deal with.  In retrospect I can see that the source of the difficulty was that there's only one odd number.  As I've remarked before, in such cases it's a good idea to subtract the odd number from the target (or add it) and then work with the new target.  I ended up stumbling across a solution that used that idea: 309 = 2*(100 + 50 - 6) - 4 + 25.

Afterwards I realised that this was a rearrangement of 325 - 16, and found an alternative presentation of 309 = 4*(100 - (6 - 2)) - 50 - 25.

My selection: 309 = 2*(100 + 50 - 6) - 4 + 25


Round 7: E R S I E Y B H U

I had SIRE, BIERS (BIER: "a stand on which a corpse, or the coffin containing it, is laid before burial"), a dubious BEERISH (not valid), wondered if RIB EYES could be a single word (it cannot), RUBIES / BURIED, another dubious RUBYISH, HUBRIS, and finally a relatively safe seven of BUSHIER.  Fortunately it is valid -- I'd have been rather put out if the Macquarie had one of its erratic moments and failed to list it.

That is the only seven, as far as I can tell.

My selection: BUSHIER


Round 8: Target 336 from 50 75 25 3 7 3

I recognised the target as 6*7*8, and two parts of that are easy.  It didn't seem feasible to make each of those, however; fortunately 6*8 = 48 is close to 50, and a bit of playing around led me to a solution: 336 = 7*(50 - (3 + 3)/3) where one of those 3's is 75/25.

My selection: 336 = 7*(50 - (3 + 3)/(75/25))


Round 9: DIETS ONCE

Lots of common letters, so much so that it can be paradoxically difficult to extract words from.  I pulled out -ED and eventually managed to extract SECTION from the rest to get the answer of SECTIONED.

My selection: SECTIONED (8.8s)