NG 205

New game 205 is now available.


Round 1: M S R O A E N T P

I had ROMS (somehow overlooking that this is in capitals; it is not valid, of course), ROAMS, RANSOM, PARENTS, and OPERANTS (OPERANT: "someone or something that operates") / PRONATES (PRONATE: "to render prone").

Although these are good letters, they don't quite render a nine; the other eights are MANROPES (MANROPE: "a rope placed at the side of a ship's gangway, ladder, or the like, to serve as a rail") and ONSTREAM.

Update: Commenter Victor points out that I overlooked STOREMAN.  Thanks, Victor!

My selection: PRONATES


Round 2: I E B C O C N U C

I had NICE, BOCCE, and BOUNCE.  If only that last C had been a D then ICEBOUND would have been an option (it was very nicely found by David in episode 320, incidentally).

BOUNCE appears to be the only six; there are a scattering of fives of which I'll just mention CUBIC and OUNCE.

My selection: BOUNCE


Round 3: Target 316 from 75 100 4 10 5 9

My instincts went straight to the factor of 4; the cofactor is 79 and the resulting solution was 316 = 4*(75 + 9 - 5).  Then I considered the standard method, which would aim for 325 - 9, and found 316 = 4*100 - 75 - 9.

My selection: 316 = 4*(75 + 9 - 5)


Round 4: S A N U M R E G A

I had MANS, ARUMS (ARUM: "any plant of the genus Arum [...]"), NAMES, GAMERS, MANGERS, and MANAGERS.

MANAGERS looks like the only eight; the other sevens are MANAGER, MANAGES, MANURES / SURNAME, GUANASE ("an enzyme found in thymus, adrenals and pancreas which converts guanine into xanthine"), and ENGRAMS (ENGRAM: "Biology the durable mark caused by a stimulus upon protoplasm").

Incidentally, while checking up on GERMANS I was surprised to see that GERMAN has acceptable uncapitalised meanings, but they are both adjectives so GERMANS is not allowed.  (GERMAN is both an obsolete form of GERMANE and also "(placed after the noun) having the same father and mother: a brother-german").

My selection: MANAGERS


Round 5: G D F U O I F K O

Bleah, what a truly awful mix.  I had GUFF, FOOD, and DOFF, rejecting GUIDO along the way (a not-quite useful discovery: GUIDON is "a swallow-tailed pennant, used as a military standard").

Indeed, four seems to be the best available, with the others being GOOD, GOOF, GOOK (derogatory in one sense, but has an inocuous colloquial meaning of "the hole aimed for in a game of marbles"), DUFF, and DIFF.

My selection: FOOD


Round 6: Target 116 from 50 100 25 75 4 10

Again my thoughts turned to the factor of 4, with the cofactor being 29 this time.  I actually floundered a bit trying to make that, then rescued myself with the solution 116 = 4*(25 + 100/(75 - 50)).

After time I saw that things were much easier with less fancy techniques: 116 = 100 + 10 + 4 + 50/25.  Seen while writing this up is the alternative 116 = 75 + 50 - 10 + 4*25/100.

My selection: 116 = 4*(25 + 100/(75 - 50))


Round 7: L L T O E I P T S

I had TOLL, STILL, POLLIES, POLITE, spotted POLITEST but knew from previous investigations that it was not explicitly listed, LITOTES ("a figure of speech in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of its contrary, as in not bad at all"), and POTTIES.  After time I noted SPITTLE as another seven.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are TOILETS, SPOTLIT, TIPTOES, and POTTLES (POTTLE: "a former liquid measure equal to two quarts (approx. 2.25 litres)").

My selection: LITOTES


Round 8: Target 750 from 50 100 75 25 8 6

Four large numbers again, but the target is a let-down.  Not only is it divisible by 25, but I recognised it immediately as 6*125.  I wrote down 750 = 6*(100 + 25) and 750 = 8*100 - 50, and left it at that.

My selection: 750 = 6*(100 + 25)


Round 9: I HATE TUBA

I was a touch slow off the mark here, but found HABITUATE soon enough.  This rounds out a maximal game on my part, which I'm obviously pretty pleased about.

My selection: HABITUATE (2.5s)