NG 253

New game 253 is now available.


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

I had TIME, MOISTEN, MATINEE, MATINEES, and SEMITONE.  After time I noted MONETISE as another eight.

The other eight is MASONITE

My selection: MATINEES


Round 2: R A H O P U I L N

I definitely struggled with this mix, although something nagged at me throughout.  I had HOAR, HARP, and HOURI.

There are somewhat longer words to be had, though.  The eight is UNIPOLAR ("having or relating to one pole only").  The sevens are PURLOIN and ALPHORN.  The sixes are ORPHAN, URINAL (probably what was nagging at me), UNHAIR, RUPIAH, RHINAL ("of or relating to the nose"), INHAUL ("a rope for hauling in a sail or spar"), PHONAL (adjective derived from PHONE: "an individual speech sound"), and PURLIN ("a timber or piece laid horizontally on the principal rafters of a roof to support the common rafters").

My selection: HOURI
Best: UNIPOLAR


Round 3: Target 248 from 75 50 100 3 2 4

I spent rather too long at first trying to use the factorisations 4*62 or 8*31.  Then I realised that the standard method of 250 - 2 was rather more obvious.  I went with 248 = 4*75 - 50 - 2 at first, then the variation 248 = 3*100 - 50 - 2.

My selection: 248 = 4*75 - 50 - 2


Round 4: R O H I T A R A S

I had TRIO, RATIO, RATIOS, TIARAS, THORIA (a certain oxide of thorium), and THORIAS (I've always been slightly worried about this as a possible mass noun, but Scrabble allows it, so...).  After time I noted AORIST (a Greek verb tense) as another six.

THORIAS appears to be the only seven; the Macquarie does list AIR SHOT, but as two words.

My selection: THORIAS


Round 5: U I A T F B I T Y

I had BAIT, TUBA, TIBIA, and FATTY.

The other fives are TUFTY, BITTY, BUTTY, and BATTY.  But there is a seven here of FATUITY

My selection: TIBIA
Best: FATUITY


Round 6: Target 577 from 75 25 7 1 3 6

My first instinct was to start with 7*75; the offset is 52, which is 7*7 + 3.  Putting it together gave me the solution 577 = 7*(75 + 6 + 1) + 3.  Then I found an alternative approach to the 52 to give 577 = 7*75 + (25 + 1)*6/3.

After time I saw another option, descending from 600 via 577 = (7 + 1)*75 - 25 + 6/3.

My selection: 577 = 7*(75 + 6 + 1) + 3


Round 7: U O A F D K R I G

I had FORD, GUARD, and RADIO.

Five is the limit here, not too surprisingly.  The others are FRAUD, FAKIR / KAFIR ("(among Muslims) an unbeliever"), GOURD, AUDIO, FIORD (variant spelling of FJORD), DOURA (variant spelling of DURRA: "a type of grain sorghum wth slender stalks, cultivated in Asia, etc."), GUIRO ("a percussion instrument consisting of a dried empty gourd, which has parallel notches across which a stick is drawn"), AROID ("belonging to or resembling the Araceae or arum family of plants which includes the arum, taro, etc."), and KAURI (a type of New Zealand tree).

My selection: GUARD


Round 8: Target 355 from 75 50 9 2 4 6

My first aim was to make the required offset of 5, which could be done with 9 - 4.  The rest was getting to 350, and that was manageable with the overall solution being 355 = 6*75 - 2*50 + 9 - 4.  Then I realised that another option was 375 - 20, which opened up tweaking options.  An alternative viewpoint, of course, is to think of it as 5*71.  Either way, I found the alternative solution 355 = (9 + 2 - 6)*(75 - 4).

My selection: 355 = (9 + 2 - 6)*(75 - 4)


Round 9: MINGLE LIP

Some standard fragments here of -ING and IMP-, and between them one finds IMPELLING.

My selection: IMPELLING (3.6s)