NG 174

New game 174 is now available.  Apologies for the delays on the write-ups, I'm a bit under the weather at the moment.


Round 1: S E D I O D T N A

I had DIES, DIODES, SEDATION, and DANDIEST.

The other eights are ADENOIDS / ADONISED.

My selection: SEDATION


Round 2: F Z M A A L T A C

I had LAMA, MALT, FACT, and FATAL.

The six here is LACTAM ("an internal amide formed from an amino acid by elimination of water from the amino and carboxyl groups").  The other five is TAMAL, a variant spelling of TAMALE.

My selection: FATAL
Best: LACTAM


Round 3: Target 201 from 75 2 6 10 4 3

My first instinct was to use the factorisation 3*67, and indeed this was not too difficult: 201 = (75 - 6 - 2)*3.  Then I switched tacks to the standard method and found the alternative solution 201 = 3*75 - 6*4.

My selection: 201 = (75 - 6 - 2)*3


Round 4: E B A I G T R I H

I had GIBE, BEGAT, BAITER, GATHER, and BRIGHT.

Six looks like the best on offer again, with quite a few others: ARIGHT, BREATH / BATHER / BERTHA ("a kind of collar or trimming, as of lace, worn about the shoulders by women, as on a low-necked dress"), BEGIRT, TIBIAE (one plural form of TIBIA), GAITER / TRIAGE / TIRAGE ("the act of drawing wine from a bottle"), and TERBIA ("the oxide of terbium [...]") / BARITE (another name for the mineral BARYTES).

My selection: BRIGHT


Round 5: N G S O A E T W E

I had SONG, knew to reject TOWNEES, ONSTAGE, and NEGATES.  I noted that an L instead of the W would have given ELONGATES, and after time noted STOWAGE as another seven.

The other sevens are TOWAGES and GOATEES.

My selection: NEGATES


Round 6: Target 436 from 100 4 5 7 5 4

The factorisation 4*109 is pretty clear, and I started with 436 = 4*(100 + 5 + 5) - 4 then simplified it to 436 = 4*(100 + 5 + 4).  While writing this up I have seen the rather more straightforward 436 = 4*100 + 5*7 + 5 - 4.

My selection: 436 = 4*(100 + 5 + 4)


Round 7: H P N D O E E L I

I had POND, PHONED, OPENED, rejected DOPELINE, and found PINHOLE for seven.

Scrabble lists give ENOPHILE / NEOPHILE, but the Macquarie does not.  Seven is its limit, with the others being DOLPHIN and ELOINED (ELOIN being a variant spelling of ELOIGN: "to remove (onself) to a distance").

My selection: PINHOLE


Round 8: Target 769 from 50 100 1 3 7 10

The approach of 770 - 1 seemed pretty clear, giving me 769 = 7*(100 + 10) - 1 in short order.

There's only one other solution, an interesting combined approach that makes it as 800 - 31: 769 = 10*(50 - 1) + 3*(100 - 7).  A rather tough method to spot, though.

My selection: 769 = 7*(100 + 10) - 1


Round 9: BRING ITEM

The -ING fragment was clear, but it took me a long time to extract TIMBERING from that mix.

My selection: TIMBERING (15.5s)