NG 244

New game 244 is now available.


Round 1: H U E D R E O S N

I had HUED, HERD, wasn't sure about REHOUSED (we had REHOMED recently in NG 231, and I wasn't sure that both were OK; they are, though), RESOUND, correctly rejected UNDERSHOE, wondered about HOUNDERS (not valid) / UNSHORED (also not valid), and finally settled on the safe eight of UNHORSED.

The other eight is ENSHROUD.  The other sevens are UNHORSE, REHOUSE, USHERED, ENDURES / ENSURED, SOUNDER / UNDOERS / ENDUROS (ENDURO: "a long-distance race for off-road motorcyclists or for mountain-bike riders"), ENDORSE, RESHOED, and DEHORNS.

My selection: UNHORSED


Round 2: T T E I S E H O P

I had SITE, HOTTIES, POETISE, and EPITHETS (EPITHET: "an adjective or other term applied to a person or thing to express an attribute, as in Alexander the Great").  A pleasing spot!

EPITHETS appears to be the only eight; the other sevens are EPITHET, TIPTOES / POTTIES, PETTISH, HEPTOSE ("any of a group of monosaccharides which contain seven carbon atoms"), and OPHITES (OPHITE being a mineral).

My selection: EPITHETS


Round 3: Target 195 from 75 50 100 7 6 5

The standard method is clearly the way to go; I went with 195 = 6*50 - 100 - 5.  While playing around with other ideas I stumbled on another approach: 195 = 7*(75 - 50) + 100/5.

My selection: 195 = 6*50 - 100 - 6


Round 4: D I F V A E R F G

I had AVID, FERVID, and GRAVED (GRAVE as a verb is an archaic variant of ENGRAVE).  After time I noted FRIDGE and RIFFED as other sixes, but could not find longer.

There are two sevens, though: GIRAFFE, and DAFFIER.

My selection: FERVID
Best: GIRAFFE


Round 5: R I K E C R O O M

I had RICE, RICER, CORKER / ROCKER, and ROOMIER.

Seven does look like the best to be done, with the others being CROOKER and ROCKIER.

My selection: ROOMIER


Round 6: Target 979 from 75 100 6 3 1 5

I started by thinking that I could get to 975 with (6 + 3)*100 + 75, then stopped that line of thought unfortunately short because 975 is also 13*75 and for some reason that seemed like a better idea.  A 13 wasn't exactly easy to come by, but I managed to get to one away with that approach via 978 = (100/5 - 6 - 1)*75 + 3.  Then I considered making the target as 1000 - 3*7, but that went nowhere.  Fortunately I returned to my original idea and saw that I had been only a trivial step away from the answer: 979 = (6 + 3)*100 + 75 + 5 - 1.

My selection: 979 = (6 + 3)*100 + 75 + 5 - 1


Round 7: N C E O A N R T D

I had CONE, OCEAN, TRANCE, TRANCED, ENACTOR, and correctly rejected CARTONED / CANTORED.  After time, while checking up on the latter I saw that CANTONED was valid (CANTON as a verb: "to divide into parts or portions").

The other eight is ORDNANCE.  The other sevens are REDCOAT / CORDATE ("heart-shaped, as a shell"), CONTEND, CANDENT ("glowing with heat; at a white heat"), and CONNATE ("associated in birth or origin").

My selection: TRANCED
Best: ORDNANCE


Round 8: Target 224 from 50 75 2 1 9 8

The standard method was the most appealing again, giving 224 = 9*(75 - 50) - 1.  Then I tried to use the factorisation 8*28 and got it to work with 224 = (75 - 50 + 2 + 1)*8.

My selection: 224 = 9*(75 - 50) - 1


Round 9: BREED BULB

Lots of B's involved, and after a distraction with BUBBLE I found my way to the answer of BLUBBERED.

My selection: BLUBBERED (1.5s)