NG 180

New game 180 is ready for your playing pleasure.


Round 1: G S M N A A O M T

I had MANS, MANGAS / GASMAN, rightly rejected GOATMAN, and GAMMONS (GAMMON: "a smoked or cured ham").

The other seven is AMONGST.

My selection: GAMMONS


Round 2: A E O O I D H T S

I had IDEA, HOOTED, wondered about SHOOTED (as an adjective for plants or such, but it's not valid), HOODIES, HOISTED, TOADISH, and TOADIES / IODATES.

Seven looks like the limit, with the others being SOOTHED, OSTEOID ("bonelike"), and DHOOTIS (DHOOTI being a variant spelling of DHOTI: "a traditional Indian garment for the lower part of the body, comprising a piece of cloth wrapped around the hips and passed loosely between the legs, worn in different styles in different regions").

My selection: HOISTED


Round 3: Target 274 from 100 5 3 5 9 2

I successively adjusted my way down from 300 with a little tweaking, getting 274 = 3*(100 - 9) + 5/5.

My selection: 274 = 3*(100 - 9) + 5/5


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

I had an invalid ALIA (thinking of ET ALIA, but of course that is a phrase), ALIAS, FAILS, FLIES, and LIAISE.  Some time later I came back to look at these letters and saw FAILSAFE as a possible eight.  I'd have definitely declared that if I had seen it within time, but my slowness saved me -- the Macquarie insists that it be hyphenated: FAIL-SAFE.

LIAISE appears to be the only six on offer, and the best to be done.

My selection: LIAISE


Round 5: B R S U E U C T C

I had RUBS, RUBES, CUBES, TRUCES / CRUETS, BUSTER, and SUTURE.  After time I noted BRUTES as another six.

Six does seem to be the limit; the others are UTERUS, TUBERS / REBUTS, RECUTS / RECTUS ("any of several straight muscles, as of the abdomen, thigh, eye, etc.") / ERUCTS (ERUCT: "to belch"), and CERCUS ("one of a pair of tail-like appendages in some insects and other arthropods, serving as tactile organs") / CRUCES (plural of CRUX: "a cross").

My selection: TRUCES


Round 6: Target 445 from 25 75 100 8 7 5

It seemed clear to attempt to make this as 450 - 5; I started with 445 = 7*(75 - 25) + 100 - 5 and continued with 445 = 7*75 - (100 - 25) - 5.  Then I considered the factorisation 5*89 and found the alternative of 445 = *(100 - 8 - 75/25).

My selection: 445 = 7*(75 - 25) + 100 - 5


Round 7: N K B S E O U R N

I had KENS, BONES, BUNKERS, and UNBROKEN.  There's no corresponding noun sense so UNBROKENS is not valid, nor is UNBONKERS.

UNBROKEN is the only eight; the other sevens are UNBROKE (an obsolete form of UNBROKEN), UNROBES / BOURNES (BOURNE being a variant spelling of BOURN: "destination; goal"), BONKERS, and NEURONS

My selection: UNBROKEN


Round 8: Target 416 from 75 50 25 100 3 7

A tricky mix this, with the offsets difficult to make and not quite enough fours for 4*104 to work out.  I thought I might have to settle for just getting close (I think I had two-away at the time) when I spotted that there was another way to make the 104, and the solution followed: 416 = (100/25)*(75 + 50 - 3*7).  I was quite pleased with that.

It was definitely a tricky answer, and it turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 416 = (100/25)*(75 + 50 - 3*7)


Round 9: MALIGN FLY

It took me a little while to juggle the -LY and -ING fragments, but I got to FLAMINGLY soon enough.

My selection: FLAMINGLY (4.0s)