NG 207

New game 207 is now available.


Round 1: M T E I R C O C N

I had TIME, MERIT, METRIC, hoped for a final E for METEORIC but it was not there, CONCEIT, CONCERT, and CONCERTI (one plural form of CONCERTO).

The other eights are INTERCOM and NECROTIC (adjective derived from NECROSIS: "death of a circumscribed piece of tissue or of an organ").

The other sevens are INCOMER, CORNICE, MORTICE, COMETIC (adjective derived from COMET), CENTRIC ("related to or situated at the centre; central"), and ORECTIC ("of or relating to desire; appetitive").

Update: Commenter Victor points out another seven of ENTOMIC ("of or relating to insects").

My selection: CONCERTI


Round 2: A U I I F B H S N

I had FISH, BASIN, and was stuck for a while before spotting BANISH.

Six is the best to be done; the others are FINISH and FUSAIN ("a fine charcoal used in drawing, made from the wood of the spindle tree").

My selection: BANISH


Round 3: Target 103 from 50 100 75 25 5 10

A disappointing target for the four large mix; I jotted down 103 = 100 + 75/25 and left it at that.

My selection: 103 = 100 + 75/25


Round 4: A I A P C R S D T

I had CRAP, SCRAP, lamented that the T was not an E for PARADISE (the next vowel would have been a U, though), also lamented that one of the A's was not an E for PRACTISED, pondered AIRCAST for a while, and finally resorted to CAPSID ("the coating of a virus particle, consisting of one or a few proteins whose molecules are arranged in a highly ordered fashion") for six.

After time I noted down some other sixes I could have found more easily: CARATS and TIARAS / RAITAS.

The findable sevens here is DRASTIC, but I had encountered the other two before way back in episode 15: ASCARID (one of a family of nematode worms) / ACARIDS (ACARID: "any animal belonging to the Acari (or Acarina), an order of arachnids including the mites, ticks, etc.").

But there is an eight to be had: ADSCRIPT ("written after").

My selection: CAPSID
Best: ADSCRIPT


Round 5: G D U I M F A C H

A rather unpromising selection; I had MAGI and MAGIC.

The othe fives are HUMID, FAUGH ("(an exclamation of disgust)"), FICHU ("a kind of scarf of muslin, lace, or the like, generally triangular in shape, worn about the neck by women, with the ends drawn together or crossed in front"), MUCID ("mouldy; musty"), HUMIC ("of or denoting something (as an acid) derived from HUMUS"), GAMIC ("sexual (opposed to agamic)"), CHUFA (a type of plant), and MAFIC ("of some igneous rocks and their constituent minerals, composed dominantly of the magnesium rock-forming silicates").

My selection: MAGIC


Round 6: Target 771 from 100 50 7 6 8 4

Only having the one odd number makes this a challenging target.  My first instinct was to try for 7*111 - 6, but making the 111 is difficult at best.  (Later checking shows that there is no solution of this form.)  Then I was interested in 775 - 4, with possible options for making the 775 but nothing obviously easy.  So I reverted to looking at the standard method, with the offset of 21 being more attractive than that of 29.  There was a common factor of 7 available to be pulled out for tweaking purposes, and fortunately the other small numbers could give the required 3.  The resulting solution is 771 = 7*(100 + (6*4)/8) + 50.

There are two other solutions.  The easier tries a similar approach to my first investigation -- not 7*111 - 6, but rather 7*109 + 8.  That requires making 9 from 50, 6, 4 and when the problem scope is narrowed like that it is feasible to find the answer of 771 = (100 + (50 + 4)/6)*7 + 8.

The other solution uses the 775 - 4 approach, but with a certain amount of cleverness.  775 is 25*31, and we cannot make either of those easily without using up important numbers.  But multiples of those might be easier -- we have 2*25 = 50 and 4*25 = 100 already.  The multiples of 31 are 62, 93, 124... both of those last two are promising, but it is the 93 that yields rewards.  The previous observations go handily together with the available 6 to produce the solution 771 = 50*(100 - 7)/6 - 4.

My selection: 771 = 7*(100 + (6*4)/8) + 50


Round 7: D D E A N M I R U

I had DEAD, NAMED, DEMAND, REMAIN, DRAINED, and amused myself with the idea of an UNDERMAID.  That was not a serious contender, of course, so seven was my limit.

There does not seem to be an eight here; some sources give MURAENID as any eel of the family Muraenidae, but the Macquarie does not.  There is, however, a nine: UNADMIRED.

Aside from that, sevens are the best, with the others being ADMIRED, MUDDIER, UNARMED / MANURED / MAUNDER ("to talk in a rambling, foolish, or imbecile way"), UNAIDED, UNDRIED, DANDIER, URANIDE, and INARMED (INARM: "to hold in, or as in, the arms").

The tempting UNAIRED, often used to refer to cancelled TV shows' episodes, is not valid.

My selection: DRAINED
Best: UNADMIRED


Round 8: Target 745 from 75 100 3 10 2 1

I got flummoxed a bit at first before realising that there was an obvious route to 750 and the rest was then easy: 745 = 10*75 - 3 - 2.

My selection: 745 = 10*75 - 3 - 2


Round 9: RIPE GENRE

I got sidetracked by the -ING fragment for a long time here, as well as RE- and PRE- prefixes.  Fortunately that latter eventually got me to the right place to find the answer of PEREGRINE.

My selection: PEREGRINE (21.5s)