NG 182

New game 182 is ready for playing.


Round 1: M H N E I E T P A

I kept getting distracted by the overly-long AMPHETAMINE here.  I had MINE, ETHINE (also known as acetylene), PEAHEN, and METHANE.  If only that N had been an S then EMPATHISE would have been there.

Seven seems to be the limit; the others are MATINEE, HEPTANE, and HEMATIN.

My selection: METHANE


Round 2: N H A E L D U E R

I had LEAN, HAULED, HERALD, LEARNED, and HANDLER.

The eight here is UNHEALED, and the other seven is LAUNDER.

My selection: LEARNED
Best: UNHEALED


Round 3: Target 317 from 50 75 1 7 7 4

The first instinct I had was to make this as 325 - 7 - 1, but I was not able to get that to work.  That was a bit careless, actually; I dismissed a working approach because an intermediate result seemed like it was too far away.  As I have seen just now, this could work with 317 = 7*75 - 4*50 - 7 - 1.

Instead, I ended up considering working down from 7*50 = 350.  The offset is 33, which was not overly promising, but I noticed that 33 is 75 - 42 and 42 is divisible by 7; in fact 42 = 7*(4 + 1) + 7, and the resulting solution is 317 = 7*(50 + 4 + 1) + 7 - 75.

A nicer solution, found by commenter Mike, is to make it as 324 - 7 thus: 317 = 4*(75 + 7 - 1) - 7.

My selection: 317 = 7*(50 + 4 + 1) + 7 - 75


Round 4: R L A E D U T TO

I had REAL, ADULT, RATTLED, and a bunch of rejected OUT- words: OUTDEALT and OUTTREAD / OUTRATED / OUTDATER.  I've looked them up before, though, or so I believe, and knew to stay at seven.  After time I noted some other sevens: ROULADE, READOUT, ROTATED, TUTORED, and TORULAE (plural of TORULA: (Chambers) "a yeastlike microorganism of the genus Torula [...]").  That last is not in the Macquarie, though, so it's just as well I didn't try it.  I think I was misrecalling the similar MORULAE.

Seven looks like the limit again.  The others are LEOTARD / DELATOR, OUTDARE, OUTDATE, DOTTREL (variant spelling of DOTTEREL, one of a few types of bird), RETOTAL, TURTLED (TURTLE as a verb: "to catch turtles, especially as a business"), TUTELAR (variant form of TUTELARY: "of or relating to a guardian or guardianship"; it also has a noun sense), the American spelling TOTALED, and the chemical TOLUATE.

My selection: RATTLED


Round 5: C O A T A S S E R

I had TACO (to be perverse), ASCOT (I was surprised to find that the Macquarie does not list this; Chambers defines it as "a type of necktie with broad ends that are tied to lie one across the other"), COASTS, ACTRESS, wondered about AEROCASTS (no such word, as it turns out), SECTORS / ESCORTS / CORSETS, and that last one finally guided me to the eight of COARSEST.  After time I noted CASTORS as another seven, and then finally saw COASTERS as an easier eight.

The other eights are SEACOAST and ROSACEAS (ROSACEA: "Pathology a skin condition of the face characterised by redness caused by enlargement of the blood vessels under the skin, combined with acne-like eruptions").

My selection: COARSEST


Round 6: Target 589 from 75 50 5 9 2 2

When I played this game, I had 100 instead of the 50 above, but made an error during entry.  I have chosen to leave it as 50 to reflect the comments of others who played.  I found this tough when I tried it with 50 just now, finding an appropriate approach of 600 - 9 - 2, but not able to get there within time; I would have had to settle for one away with 590 = 2*5*(50 + 9).

Checking a solver later turned up 589 = ((50/5 - 2)*75) - 9 - 2.  There is also Sam's excellent solution (in the comments) of 589 = (5 + 2)*(75 + 2) + 50.

My original comment was:

The offsets are 11 and 14; I should have been tempted by that first option since 9 + 2 = 11 was formable, but I overlooked it.  Probably just as well as it does not seem possible to use that idea.  Instead, I focused on the target as 575 + 14, with the observation that 9 + 5 could give the 14.  With a tweak I was able to get that work: 589 = 9*(75 + 2/2) + 5 - 100.  Then I saw that untweaked versions also worked, with 589 = 5*100 + 75 + 2*(9 - 2) and 589 = 9*75 - 100 + 2*(5 + 2).

My selection: 589 = 9*(75 + 2/2) - 100 + 5


Round 7: C E A I N N D S A

I had NICE, CANNED, CANDIES, and SCANNED.  After time I noted CANINES as another seven.

Seven is the best to be done here -- the Macquarie does not allow AIDANCES -- with the others being SCANDIA (an oxide of scandium), NAIADES (one plural form of NAIAD: "one of a class of water-nymphs fabled to dwell in and preside over streams and springs"), and possible ACEDIAS (ACEDIA: "sloth; spiritual apathy").

My selection: CANDIES


Round 8: Target 547 from 25 50 1 3 7 1

The standard method suggests making this as 550 - 3, but that seems difficult.  Looking for alternatives, I noticed that the offset from 525 was 22, which is 7*3 + 1, and a tweak finished it off: 547 = 7*(50 + 25 + 3) + 1.

A variation of that approach is to observe that the inner 78 is also 3*26, leading to the alternative solution 547 = 7*3*(25 + 1) + 1.  It turns out that the standard method can be made to work, although it's a little hard to spot: 547 = (25 - (1 + 1)*7)*50 - 3.

My selection: 547 = 7*(50 + 25 + 3) + 1


Round 9: LATE SLICE

Just like yesterday, I got lost in the common letters and was not able to resolve them into an answer.  It's a tough conundrum, I'd say.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: CELESTIAL