NG 265

New game 265 is now available.


Round 1: O C B A U D W H C

I had CUBS, COUCH, CHAOS, and noted BACCHUS but that is proper, of course.  While checking up on that (just in case it had an uncapitalised sense) I saw BACCO listed as a colloquialism for tobacco.  My interpretation is that is a mass noun, though, so not pluralisable to BACCOS.

In any case, a minute or so later I finally saw the seven of CACHOUS (CACHOU: "a pill or pastille for sweetening the breath").  That is the only seven, and the best to be done.  The only six is CACHOU.

Some sources would allow the eight of CHUBASCO, a type of storm, but it's not in the Macquarie.

My selection: CHAOS
Best: CACHOUS


Round 2: R E M V T O M R O

I had TERM, MOVER, and TREMOR.  I amused myself with the idea of VROOMER, but that's not valid (more to my surprise, though, VROOM itself is not listed; reasonable in retrospect, but not as I expected).

Six seems to be the best on offer, with the others being ROOTER / TORERO ("a bullfighter who fights on foot"), ROOMER, MOOTER, TERMOR ("(in law) someone who has an estate for a term of years or for life"), and TROVER ("a common-law action to remedy the wrongful disposal of property by another").

My selection: TREMOR


Round 3: Target 997 from 25 5 10 4 7 7

A tough target; getting to 1000 is easy enough but the offset of three is not possible at the same time.  I wrote down a fallback one-away 998 - 4*10*25 - (7 - 5).  I really wanted to make this as 990 + 7, but was not able to do so.  I also flirted with the option of 7*143 - 4, but was similarly stymied.  I got a bit confused with that idea and also wrote down another one away in the shape of 998 = (5*25 + 10 + 7)*7 + 4, having started off thinking that was 997 but realising the error as I finished writing it down.

This game can be solved, but there's only one solution.  It uses one of the approaches that I wanted but I missed the idea of making 33 from 4, 7, 10.  The solution is 997 = (4*10 - 7)*(25 + 5) + 7.

My selection: 998 = 4*10*25 - (7 - 5)
Best: 997 = (4*10 - 7)*(25 + 5) + 7


Round 4: O M T E L O H N G

I had MOTE and MOTEL.  Just could not see longer within time, although I wrote down MELTON for checking afterwards.  I've encountered that before, actually, but had forgotten doing so; it is valid (MELTON: "a smooth heavy woollen cloth, used for coats, hunting jackets, etc.").  It's a little embarrassing to see that and miss the safer MOLTEN, mind you.

Later I saw MOONLET, but it's a good thing I did not see it within time -- I had forgotten that this was one of the traps of the Macquarie, not being listed.

There is a seven here: MENTHOL (I spent a certain amount of time being disappointed that the second O was not an A for METHANOL, but still managed to miss this).  There's two, actually, with the other being THEOLOG (colloquial for "a student of theology").

The other sixes are LENGTH and LOMENT ("a legume which is contracted in the spaces between the seeds, and breaks at maturity into one-seeded indehiscent joints").  There's also MONGOL, which has an obsolete lowercase form meaning "someone who has Down syndrome".

My selection: MOTEL
Best: MENTHOL


Round 5: S N I F P A I E T

I had FINS, PAINS, FAINEST (FAIN as an (obsolete) adjective: "(followed by an infinitive) content; willing"), and PANTIES.  After time I noted SAPIENT / PATINES (PATINE being a variant spelling of PATEN: "the plate on which the bread is placed in the celebration of the Eucharist") as other sevens.

Seven is the best to be done, with the others being PIANIST, NIFTIES (plural of NIFTY as a noun, listed as an American colloquialism for "something nifty, as a smart or clever remark"), and TIEPINS / PINIEST / PINITES (PINITE: "a mica-like material, essentially a hydrous silicate of aluminium and potassium").

My selection: FAINEST


Round 6: Target 536 from 75 50 25 100 1 1

A tough ask -- the pair of 1's is always troublesome with the four large mix.  I noted that the target was near to 525 = 7*75, and a little tweaking of that got me to four away with 532 = ((100 + 50)/25 + 1)*(75 + 1).  I was not at all surprised when later checking revealed that this was the best to be done, and the only way to get even that close.

My selection: 532 = ((100 + 50)/25 + 1)*(75 + 1)


Round 7: A N D S O T A F D

I had SAND, STAND, SONATA, and then was pleased to spot one of David's memorable finds (from an episode not covered by this blog, alas) of FANTODS (FANTOD being an obsolete term for "a temperamental mannerism or affectation; performance").

FANTODS is the only seven, and FANTOD is the other six.

My selection: FANTODS


Round 8: Target 518 from 100 9 10 4 2 8

Finally an easy numbers round!  I started with 518 = (9 - 4)*100 + 10 + 8, then moved to the more complicated 518 = (10*100/(8/4)) + 2*9, and finished with the modified version 518 = (10*100/4 + 9)*2.

My selection: 518 = (9 - 4)*100 + 10 + 8


Round 9: SEWER ROOF

The key part to solving this (for me, at least) was picking out the FORE- fragment.  It was not too much of a struggle to get from there to FORESWORE.

My selection: FORESWORE (5.4s)