NG 211

New game 211 is now available.


Round 1: I E A N T R D H H

I had NEAT, TRAIN, TRAINED / DETRAIN, and HANDIER.  I got interrupted by a phone call on this round just after writing TRAINED, so I'm relieved in one way that the remaining letters were the unhelpful pair of H's and nothing longer was on offer.  (Note that a fourth vowel would have been an O, allowing the familiar eights of ORDINATE / RATIONED and ANTIHERO.)

Seven is the best on offer, with the other one being HAIRNET.

My selection: TRAINED


Round 2: O O S R E M D I R

I had ROOS, ROSE, MOROSE, a dubious DOOMERS (not valid), similarly dubious MOROSER and SIDEROOM (neither valid), DORMERS (DORMER: "a vertical window in a projection built out from a sloping roof"), and then was rather pleased to spot the eight of MOIDORES (MOIDORE: "a former gold coin of Portugal").  Score one for high school poetry!  (Actually, it may have been year 5 or 6... I'm having trouble remembering, although the poem itself lingers.)

That looks like the only eight (the tempting MISORDER is not listed).  The other sevens are MOIDORE / MOODIER, MISDOER, ROOMIER, ROOMERS, and OROIDES (OROIDE: "an alloy containing copper, tin, etc., used to imitate gold").  Rather strangely (to me), the Macquarie does not have ROOMIES.

Update: Commenter Victor proves me wrong again by finding ODORISER as another eight.  Well done, Victor!  ODORISE is thus another seven, and probably easier to remember thatn OROIDES from those letters.

My selection: MOIDORES


Round 3: Target 381 from 75 4 6 1 7 5

The standard method leads directly to a solution, as long as one knows the 75-times table.  I wrote down 381 = 5*75 + 6 and spent the rest of the time unsuccessfully trying to make the target from the five small numbers alone.  (It turns out that the closest one can get from those small numbers alone is 379.)

My selection: 381 = 5*75 + 6


Round 4: S P R L E N I N O

I had REPS, PERILS, SPINNER, and SPOILER.

The other sevens are PILSNER, PENSION, ORPINES (ORPINE being a type of plant), PINNERS, EPSILON / PINOLES (PINOLE: "any of various mixtures or aromatic powders, used as flavouring"), and PROLINE (a certain amino acid).  This may well be pluralisable, in which case PROLINES is the eight in this mix.

My selection: SPOILER
Best: PROLINES (probably)


Round 5: O A E C C T N K R

I had COAT, OCEAN, RACKET, RECKON, and CONCERT.

Some sources would allow CORNCAKE, but it's not in the Macquarie.  The eight that is listed is ACCENTOR, which is not -- as I would have guessed from the word -- something that accents, but rather a type of bird.

The other sevens are ENACTOR and CROCKET ("a medieval ornament in the form of leafage curled out over a knot or knob; placed on the angles of the inclined sides of pinnacles, under cornices, etc.").

My selection: CONCERT
Best: ACCENTOR


Round 6: Target 827 from 75 50 1 1 9 2

Again this is straightforward for people with the 75-times table memorised; the nearest multiple of 25 is 825, which is 11*75, and the solution follows easily: 827 = (9 + 2)*75 + 1 + 1.

There's a trivial variant formed by swapping 1 + 1 and 2; the other solution makes the target as 900 - 75 + 2, where the 900 is 9*50*2: 827 = 9*2*50 - 75 + 1 + 1, for instance.  There's a minor variation of it by tweaking -- 827 = 2*(9*50 + 1) - 75 -- but it's essentially the same idea.

My selection: 827 = (9 + 2)*75 + 1 + 1


Round 7: A I E L F M Q D F

The Q does not provide much help, as usual.  I had FILE, FLAME, FILMED, MAILED, and some unconvincing sevens (MIDLEAF was the most plausible, but it was no surprise when later checking confirmed it was not valid).

Indeed, six looks like the best on offer; the others are MIFFED, FAILED / AFIELD, and MEDIAL.

My selection: FILMED


Round 8: Target 226 from 75 25 10 3 7 5

A rather tricky one, this, I'd say.  Or maybe I just missed the obvious.  Anyway, the first instinct was to make this as 3*75 + 1, but a 1 from the rest was not entirely clear.  Casting about for tweaking options I hit on making the 1 as 7 - 3*2, with the 2 coming from 10/5.  The resulting solution was 226 = 3*(75 - 10/5) + 7.

After time I saw that the untweaked version would have worked after all, although it feels difficult to spot within time: 226 = 3*75 + (25 + 10)/(7*5).

My selection: 226 = 3*(75 - 10/5) + 7


Round 9: EATEN BODY

I wasn't able to solve this within time (I have been having a fairly poor run on the conundrums in recent days).  That Y threw me, and after seeing the answer it is clear why -- it does not fit the common usage patterns.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: BAYONETED