NG 266

New game 266 is now available.


Round 1: C T A C F U K O V

Yeesh, this round is exactly as disappointing as it looks.  I had FACT and wrote down a speculative FAUCET but the E never arrived.

And four is the best to be done.  Other sources might allow ACOCK or COACT, but they aren't in the Macquarie.  The other fours are COAT / TACO, AUTO, TOFU, COCK, TACK, TUCK, FUCK, COCA, and TUFA ("a porous mass of mineral calcium carbonate deposited round a spring").

My selection: FACT


Round 2: R R U B S O U S L

This mix is not that much better than the previous one.  I had BURR, BURRS, and BURROS.

BURROS appears to be the only six.  The other fives are BURRO, SOULS / SOLUS ("(used formerly in stage directions) (of a male) alone; by himself"), SLOBS, SLURS, SOURS / SORUS ("one of the clusters of sporangia on the back of the fronds of ferns"), BLURS / BURLS, BOLUS, LOURS, SORBS (SORB being a type of tree), and SLUBS (SLUB: "to draw out and twist slightly after carding or slivering, as wool or cotton").

My selection: BURROS


Round 3: Target 426 from 25 6 9 3 2 7

I struggled a bit with this one, perhaps thrown by the previous two unhelpful rounds.  Getting to 425 was easier enough, but making both the 17 and a 1 from the small numbers was difficult.  A bit late in the piece I was fortunate to spot a useful adjustment up from 400 and found a solution after all: 426 = (9 + 7)*(25 + 2) - 6.

My selection: 426 = (9 + 7)*(25 + 2) - 6


Round 4: N W T O N E D O M

I had WONT, NEWTON (the SI unit of force), and pondered WOODMEN.  I would have been confident about WOODSMEN, but was rather less certain about WOODMEN.  I decided to chance it, however, and happily that was the right decision.

WOODMEN does appear to be the only seven.  The other sixes are TENDON, MOONED, MOOTED, WOODEN, WONTED, and WONNED (past tense of the archaic WON in the sense of "to dwell, abide, or stay").  I thought that WONTON would have been all right, but it turns out that it is two words: WON TON.  I guess I need to pay more attention to menus.

My selection: WOODMEN


Round 5: G E H T H O I T A

Yeesh, another unpromising mix.  What a day.  I was amused to see GHOTI as an early possibility, then went with HIGH, THIGH, and HEIGHT / EIGHTH.

The other sixes are HOGTIE, GHETTO, and HOTTIE.  But there is a seven here, the mineral GÖTHITE.  (I almost missed this, because it is only listed in the Macquarie under GOETHITE, which is rather unhelpful of it.)

My selection: HEIGHT
Best: GÖTHITE


Round 6: Target 109 from 25 6 1 8 3 4

Fairly straightforward; I started with 109 = 4*25 + 8 + 1, then looked at ways to avoid using the 25.  I wrote down two alternatives: 109 = (6 + 3)*(8 + 4) + 1 and 109 = (8 + 3)*(6 + 4) - 1.

My selection: 109 = 4*25 + 8 + 1


Round 7: M T M A S L P E E

Finally halfway decent letters!  I had MAST, MALTS, ASLEEP, and PELMETS (PELMET: "a short ornamental drapery or board, placed across the top of a window in order to hide the curtain rail").  After time I saw the more common anagram of TEMPLES, and AMPLEST as another seven.

Seven is the best on offer; the other is EMPALES (EMPALE being a variant spelling of IMPALE).

My selection: PELMETS


Round 8: Target 148 from 50 2 5 7 1 9

I recognised the target as 4*37, but that was not very useful.  Instead I started with the simple 148 = (7 + 1 - 5)*50 - 2, and while looking for alternatives spotted the option of 98 + 50 to get another solution of 148 = 7*(9 + 5) + 50.

My selection: 148 = 7*(9 + 5) + 50


Round 9: STOLEN CAB

I chose this conundrum rather than going for a random one, as I'd noted it in something I'd read over the weekend and thought it would make a decent conundrum.  It makes a change from the usual run of -ING words, anyway.

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