NG 261

New game 261 is now available.


Round 1: LN D S E E A S R

I had SEND, LENDS, SEALED, SLENDER, and SLANDERS.

The other eights are DEARNESS and REALNESS.  There's quite a few sevens, as would be expected from such a mix.

My selection: SLANDERS


Round 2: A O O N R E K C M

I had ROAN, CRANK, MOCKER, noted that CAMEROON was there but obviously could not choose it, ROMANCE (which leapt out at me when I wrote down CAMEROON), and briefly considered NECKROOM but rightly rejected it.

There is an eight here, though, ably found by Louise: MOONCAKE ("a type of small Chinese cake with a filling of sweet bean paste, traditionally eaten at the Mid-autumn Festival").  The other seven is CORONAE (one plural form of CORONA).

My selection: ROMANCE
Best: MOONCAKE


Round 3: Target 368 from 100 25 50 5 6 6

The offsets for the standard method are 18 or 7, neither of which is easy.  The 18 could be manufactured as 4*6 - 6 or 2*6 + 6 (with the 4 or 2 coming from the large numbers), but it does not seem feasible to get to 350 with the rest, even with tweaking.  I wrote down a fallback one-away 369 = 6*50 + 100 - 25 - 6, and in the end that was where I had to stay.

The target turns out to be impossible, so one away is the best to be done.  Incidentally, there's only one way to get to 367 from these numbers: 367 = (100/50)*6*(25 + 6) - 5.

My selection: 369 = 6*50 + 100 - 25 - 6  [1 off]


Round 4: T E R E B I H I C

I had TREE, BERET, was dubious about BITCHIER, and HERETIC.  My experience with the Macquarie led me to feel that it would likely list BITCHY but not provide the comparative form as the show's rules would require.  If I had not found HERETIC I'd have risked it, but that felt like a good seven and in the end that outweighed the dubious eight.  All of this reasoning fortunately turned out to be correct.

After time I noted HEBETIC ("relating to or occurring in puberty") as another seven.

The other sevens are ITCHIER and  TECHIER / ETHERIC.

My selection: HERETIC


Round 5: G R D E O R I G L

I had GORED, RIGGED, ROILED, noted that an E insted of that I would have allowed the eight of DOGGEREL, and wondered about GODLIER.  I thought it more likely than BITCHIER was, but I took the same stance and rejected it.  That was the incorrect decision (Victor pointed out in comments that the recent SAINTLIER should have been a hint that GODLIER was valid, which is a very good point; I wish it had occurred to me), and GODLIER is fine.

The other sevens are DOGGIER, GIRDLER, and GLORIED.

My selection: RIGGED
Best: GODLIER


Round 6: Target 711 from 25 100 50 75 6 3

I recognised the target immediately as 9*79 thanks to its recent appearance in NG 257.  It was a short step from that observation to the solution 711 = (75 + 100/25)*(6 + 3).  I also considered using the factor of 3; the cofactor is 237, which is 225 + 12.  A bit of tweaking allowed that to work with 711 = (6*(25 + 100/50) + 75)*3.

My selection: 711 = (75 + 100/25)*(6 + 3)


Round 7: U F T I O R D T E

I had FRUIT, OUTFIT, FRUITED, correctly rejected OUTDRIFT, and the considered the FORE- fragment.  It was not directly useful, but thinking of that sound made me see the full monty of FORTITUDE, a very pleasing result.

There do not seem to be any eights; the other sevens are OUTRIDE, TUTORED, DOTTIER, and FRITTED (FRIT: "to fuse (materials) in making a frit", where FRIT as a noun is "a fused or partially fused material used as a basis for glazes or enamels").

My selection: FORTITUDE


Round 8: Target 916 from 3 10 8 5 5 7

An imposing target for six small numbers, but fortunately we have a decent selection.  I noted that the target was near 910 which is 9*7*13, and that got me to one away with 915 = (8 + 5)*7*10 + 5.  I was unable to better that.

This target is also unreachable, with one off being the best possible.

My selection: 915 = (8 + 5)*7*10 + 5  [1 off]


Round 9: OBESE RUNT

I chose this conundrum explicitly after being presented with a similar (but unusable) one.  It is TENEBROUS ("dark; gloomy; obscure").

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