NG 219

New game 219 is now available.


Round 1: S E N I O A R M O

I had SINE, NOISE, REASON, SEMINAR, and ROMANISE ("to put into roman type").  I also observed that SENIOR is nearly spelled out in the mix, and removing the A even gives SENIOR MO.

The other eights are MOONRISE and ROMAINES (ROMAINE: "a fine woven fabric in plain dyes used as a lining or, when printed, used for dress goods") / MORAINES (MORAINE: "a ridge, mound, or irregular mass of boulders, gravel, sand and clay, transported in or on a glacier").

My selection: ROMANISE


Round 2: N U B W U A G K C

Bleah, what a selection.  I had BANG, BACK, BANK, GAWK, and the dubious WABUN (Japanese Morse code) and CUBAN (I thought there was a chance that it might have an uncapitalised meaning as a synonym for a Cuban cigar).  I could not at the time remember what WABUN meant (or even if it was genuinely a word), and CUBAN seemed too unlikely to me, so I had to stay with four.

It turns out that there are not any fives, but there is a six: NUBUCK ("a fine soft leather, usually cow hide, which has the grain buffed off").

My selection: BANG
Best: NUBUCK


Round 3: Target 681 from 25 50 10 4 8 9

I spent far too long looking at 700 - 10 - 9 as an approach here, which does not seem to be a workable method.  When I shifted my attention to 675 + 6 instead I realised that the 675 was easy, and so was the 6; the resulting solution is 681 = 9*(50 + 25) + 10 - 4.

There's a few other solutions, but my favourite is 681 = (8*10 + 4)*9 - 50 - 25.

My selection: 681 = 9*(50 + 25) + 10 - 4


Round 4: F S B A A N I E S

The -NESS fragment is provocative, but ultimately not useful.  I had BANS, BASIN, and ABASES.  I also pondered but correctly rejected FABNESS (not listed), FABIANS (FABIAN is only listed capitalised: "a member of or a sympathiser with, the Fabian Society"), and SABINES (again, SABINE is only listed capitalised: "one of the Sabine people").  While checking up on SABINES I saw another six of SABINS (SABIN: "Acoustics a unit of sound absorption equal to the absorption resulting from exposure to one square foot of a perfectly absorbing surface"), and noted BASINS as an anagram of it.

Six does seem to be the limit; the others are BIASES, ANISES (ANISE being a type of plant) / SANIES ("a thin serous fluid, often greenish, discharged from ulcers, wounds, etc."), and BAASES (BAAS: "South African sir; boss").

My selection: ABASES


Round 5: D E T I E D C E M

Gah, so nearly a good selection here, with an A instead of one of those E's allowing DECIMATED / MEDICATED.  Oh, well.  As it was, I had DIET, DIETED, wondered about EDICTED (not valid, as expected), DECEIT, DECIDE, and EMETIC.

Again six seems to be the best; the others are DEEMED, TEEMED, EDITED, and ITEMED.

My selection: DECEIT


Round 6: Target 745 from 50 75 4 3 10 1

Hard to go past a starting point of 75*10 = 750, and the final adjustment is also straightforward: 745 = 75*10 - 4 - 1.

My selection: 745 = 75*10 - 4 - 1


Round 7: S E I O R N O R P

I had RISE, NOISE, SENIOR, SOONER, wondered about SPOONER (valid, as it turns out: "SA Colloquial a private school student"), was dubious about SPOONIER (I know it is in the Scrabble list, but thought it was not in the Macquarie; it turns out that it is, though, with SPOONY being defined as "foolishly or sentimentally amorous"), then the safe eights of PRISONER and POISONER.

Those are the only eights (the tempting SNOOPIER is not listed).  The other sevens are SNOOPER, EROSION, IRONERS, PROSIER, ORPINES (ORPINE being a type of plant), and PERRONS (PERRON: "an outside platform upon which the entrance door of a building opens, with steps leading to it").

My selection: PRISONER


Round 8: Target 346 from 75 7 1 2 6 6

I vacillated between trying to work up from 4*75 and working down from 5*75; neither offset looked particularly promising.  But I got there in the end when I considered using 7 - 2 to make the 5 instead of 6 - 1, and a tweak saw me home: 346 = (7 - 2)*(75 - 6) + 1.

As it turns out, using 6 - 1 should also have worked: 346 = (6 - 1)*(75 - 7) + 6.  And working up from 300 is also manageable with 346 = (6 - 2)*(75 + 1) + 7*6.

My selection: 346 = (7 - 2)*(75 - 6) + 1


Round 9: SHREWD PIE

Oh, dear, this took me a long time.  That might seem reasonable, except the form I was actually presented with was WHIPSERED, which only requires swapping the S and P to get the answer of WHISPERED.  But I was not thinking in those terms, and it took me over sixteen seconds to reason my way to that form.  Heh.

My selection: WHISPERED (16.7s)