NG 215

New game 215 is now available.  I hope you all have a nice weekend!


Round 1: E A A G G M N O Y

I had GAGE (I was thinking as a variant spelling of GAUGE, but it's also a word in its own right; either a type of plum or "something, as a glove, thrown down in token of challenge to combat"), GAGA, GAME, MANGE, MANGY, OMEGA, MANGO, and amused myself with EGGMAN (although I was thinking of this instead).  After time I noted down AGONY as another five.

There were two sixes here, both quite findable: MANAGE and YEOMAN.  But there were even a couple of sevens: ANAGOGE ("the spiritual interpretation or application of a word, passage or text, as of Scriptures, especially the application of the types and allegories of the Old Testament to subjects of the New Testament") and the delightful YEGGMAN (variant form of YEGG, an American colloquialism for "a burglar, especially a petty one").

As an aside, GAG-MAN ("a male comedian, especially one who writes funny lines for other performers to deliver") and GAG-MEN are listed, but only with the hyphen.

My selection: MANGE
Best: YEGGMAN


Round 2: F A D E E K C A S

I had DEAF, FAKED, FACADE, FACADES, DEFACES, and contemplated FEEDSACK as an alternative to FEEDBAG, but it wasn't hard to (correctly) reject it.

Those are the only sevens.

My selection: FACADES


Round 3: Target 932 from 25 50 1 9 9 6

The nearest multipliers for 50 are 18 and 19, and the first was pretty clearly tempting.  The remaining numbers worked out handily, giving 932 = (9 + 9)*50 + 25 + 6 + 1.  Then I spotted a way to make the 19 that I often miss, and was pleased to find 932 = (25 - 6)*50 - 9 - 9.

My selection: 932 = (25 - 6)*50 - 9 - 9


Round 4: R I E R H U N I N

I had HEIR, HIRER, an uncertain RUINER (it is valid), URINE, wondered about INURER (not valid), and settled on RUNNIER.

Unfortunately, the erratic Macquaries strikes again, as RUNNIER is not explicitly listed.  Six is the best to be done, with RUNNER being the other example.

My selection: [invalid -- RUNNIER]
Best: RUNNER


Round 5: I O U T L L B E C

I had LOUT and BULLET.  The only plausible alternative I could think of was BIOCELL, but it was not hard to reject that.  (Although I'll note that BIOCELLATE is valid: "marked with two ocelli or eye-like parts".  Of course, that's derived from BI + OCELLUS, rather than BIO + CELL.)  After time I noted down other sixes of OUTLIE and OCELLI (plural of OCELLUS: "an eye-like spot, as on a peacock feather").

Six appears to be the best on offer; quite a few others are available: BILLET, COLLIE (a little embarrassing this; I saw it within time but had a moment of confusion with SCOTTIE and thought it would be invalid), LOBULE ("a small lobe"), COLLET ("a collar or enclosing band"), BOUCLÉ ("yarn with loops, which produces a woven or knitted fabric with rough appearance"), CITOLE (one of two different musical instruments), CULLET ("broken or waste glass suitable for remelting"), and LOCULI (plural of LOCULUS: "Botany, Zoology, Anatomy a small compartment or chamber; a cell").

My selection: BULLET


Round 6: Target 751 from 25 75 1 9 10 5

Disappointingly easy; I wrote 751 = 75*10 + 1 and left it at that.

My selection: 751 = 75*10 + 1


Round 7: E I E R N D R E S

I had REIN, REINED / NEREID ("a marine free-living annelid worm of the genus Nereis"), REINDEER, NEEDIER, and then had to decide if REINDEERS would be OK.  One the one hand there are several -s plural forms listed where they might not always be expected; on the other hand, in my head it's pretty solidly entrenched that the only correct plural form should be REINDEER.  In the end I decided against it and stayed with REINDEER for eight.

As it turns out, REINDEERS is listed as one of the plural forms.  And just to highlight the oddity, the only plural form listed for DEER is DEER.  Go figure.

The other eight here is NEREIDES (plural of NEREID in the mythological sense: "Greek Legend any one of the 50 daughters of the ancient sea-god Nereus").

My selection: REINDEER
Best: REINDEERS


Round 8: Target 592 from 75 100 7 2 2 10

I got horribly lost here, able to make an offset of 8 but then not get to 600, or the 17 but not reach 575... it seemed like nothing I tried worked, and in the end I settled for one away with 593 = (10 - 2)*75 - 7.

A little after time I considered the perhaps-counterintuitive option of descending from 625, and the offset is 33.  At about the same moment I realised that I could make a 5 from 10/2 and so 33 was 7*5 - 2.  The resulting solution was 592 = 7*(75 - 10/2) + 100 + 2 (or the similar 592 = 7*(100 - 10/2) - 75 + 2).

Seen while writing this up is that if I had thought of the 10/2 = 5 option I could have got 575 + 17 to work after all: 592 = (10/2)*(100 + 2) + 75 + 7.

There's a few other solutions; one makes it as 492 + 100: 592 = (10 - 2 - 2)*(75 + 7) + 100.  But the one I like most is the perhaps obvious approach of 10*59 + 2, although seeing how to make that actually work is somewhat difficult: 592 = (100 - (75 + 7)/2)*10 + 2.

My selection: 593 = (10 - 2)*75 - 7  [1 off]
Best: 592 = (75 + 7)*(10 - 2 - 2) + 100


Round 9: NICE RITZY

I chose this conundrum explicitly after being presented with the similar CITIZENLY (which I solved), which is not listed.

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explicitly]
Best: CITIZENRY