NG 243

New game 243 is now available.


Round 1: N E E T O D B O S

I had TEEN, DENOTE, BOOSTED, and DENOTES.  If only that B had been an F instead then FESTOONED would have been available.

The other seven on offer is BOOTEES.

My selection: BOOSTED


Round 2: D D U A S P E O R

I had DUDS, SPADE, SOAPED, and AROUSED.  Again, almost a nine here, with a second E instead of the O allowing PERSUADED.

There is an eight available, though: SUPERADD ("to add over and above").  The other sevens are PADDERS, SPUDDER ("an employee at an oil well"), and DEODARS (DEODAR being a type of tree).

My selection: AROUSED
Best: SUPERADD


Round 3: Target 875 from 50 100 75 10 1 8

Ah, well.  I doubt anyone was challenged to find 875 = 8*100 + 75.

My selection: 875 = 8*100 + 75


Round 4: H B O A T C A G F

I had BOAT and BATCH, amusing myself with the idea of HATBAG but not seriously.

There is a six here, though: GOTCHA.

My selection: BATCH
Best: GOTCHA


Round 5: M E S R I E H L A

I had MIRES, REMISE ("Law to give up a claim to; surrender by deed"), an uncertain MEALIER (valid), REALISE, and REALISM.

The other sevens are HEALERS, HAILERS, MEALIES (a South African term for maize, apparently), MISHEAR, SEAMIER / SERIEMA (one of two sorts of bird), and SHEMALE.

But there is an eight here: MEASLIER.

My selection: REALISE
Best: MEASLIER


Round 6: Target 876 from 75 25 10 10 4 8

My first instinct was to make this as 875 + 10/10, but without suitable odd numbers that was not an option.  I wrote down a fallback one-away 875 = 8*10*10 + 75 (shades of round 3 there), and turned my attention to 880 - 4.  Making that as 88*10 seemed desirable, but it was 8*110 instead that brought reward: 876 = 8*(75 + 25 + 10) - 4.

My selection: 876 = 8*(75 + 25 + 10) - 4


Round 7: E F L O U G R L A

I had FLOE, FOUL, ROUGE / ROGUE, FULLER, FORAGE, and FLORAL.

There's a few other sixes, but the seven is the musical direction ALLEGRO.

My selection: FORAGE
Best: ALLEGRO


Round 8: Target 312 from 100 75 50 9 9 3

With 9 + 3 giving the 12, it is tempting to get to 300 and add.  It doesn't seem to work out, though; I wrote down a fallback one off 313 = 9*(75 - 50) + 100 - 9 - 3 as a result.  At some point during my musings I considered that 3*9*9 was 243, which when 75 was added gives 318, just 6 away.  A tweak fortunately finished it off: 312 = 3*(9*9 - 100/50) + 75.

There's a few other solutions, of which I'll mention 312 = (9*9 + 75)*100/50 and 312 = (100/(75 - 50))*(9*9 - 3).

My selection: 312 = 3*(9*9 - 100/50) + 75


Round 9: ENDED BIRD

I was not able to get anywhere with this conundrum.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: BEDRIDDEN