NG 267

New game 267 is now available.


Round 1: H B D E A B G U Z

I had BEAD, an uncertain GABBED (valid), amused myself with BUGHEAD but not seriously so, GAUZE, rejected GAUZED (but GAUZE does actually have a verb sense), and correctly rejected HUBBED also.

Aside from the two valid sixes that I rejected the others are BEDBUG and BEDAUB.

My selection: GAUZE
Best: BEDBUG


Round 2: R C S K O T I O S

I had CORKS, STOCK, and STOCKS.

Six is the best to be done; the others are TRICKS, CROOKS, STICKS, SKIRTS, STORKS / TORSKS (TORSKS being a type of fish) / SKORTS (SKORT: "a women's garment, comprising shorts with a loose leg designed to fold so as to appear to make a short skirt"), ROOSTS / TORSOS, SCOOTS, STOICS, SICKOS, and STOOKS (STOOK: "a group of sheaves of grain placed on end supporting one another in the field").

My selection: STOCKS


Round 3: Target 274 from 25 1 4 9 3 8

The standard method is clearly the way to go: 274 = (8 + 3)*25 - 1.

My selection: 274 = (8 + 3)*25 - 1


Round 4: S N S N O A A R I

I had SONS, ARSON, and SONARS / ARSONS.  I also amused myself with the idea of NARNIAS.

There is a seven here: NASIONS (NASION: "Anatomy the intersection of the internasal suture with the nasofrontal suture, in the mid-sagittal plane").

The other sixes are NASION / ANIONS, ROSINS, SARINS (SARIN being a nerve gas), SARANS (SARAN being a trademark for any of a set of polymers), NORIAS (NORIA: "a device consisting of a series of buckets on a wheel, used for raising water"), and NAIRAS (NAIRA being "the unit of currency of Nigeria").

My selection: SONARS
Best: NASIONS


Round 5: O S W E T S P G I

I had WOES, STOWS, PESTOS, and SPIGOTS (SPIGOT: "a small peg or plug for stopping the vent of a cask, etc.").

The other sevens are POSTIES and STOGIES / EGOISTS.

My selection: SPIGOTS


Round 6: Target 585 from 100 5 1 5 8 10

Just a matter of reading off the digits this time: 585 = 5*100 + 8*10 + 5.  And one could even make that 5*1 to really drive home the correspondence with decimal representations.

My selection: 585 = 5*100 + 8*10 + 5


Round 7: T D F E D R L U E

I had DEFT, LURED, and FURLED.

The sevens are REFUTED, DELUDER, DETRUDE ("to thrust out or away"), and FERULED (FERULE as a verb: "to punish with a ferule", where FERULE as a noun is "a rod, cane, or flat piece of wood for the punishment of children, by striking them, especially on the hand").

My selection: FURLED
Best: REFUTED


Round 8: Target 287 from 75 10 6 2 5 6

The standard method would suggest making this as 300 - 13, but somehow I missed the option of (10 - 6)*75 - 6 - 5 - 2.  Instead I went further afield, noting the target was 5*75 - 88.  A bit of further tweaking turned up a solution of 287 = 5*(75 - 10 - 6) - 6 - 2.

My selection: 287 = 5*(75 - 10 - 6) - 6 - 2


Round 9: BOWMEN NOD

The W is often awkward, but after some playing around with WOOD and DOWN fragments I spotted WOMEN and thus BONDWOMEN (plural of BONDWOMAN: "a female slave", or maybe what happens when Bond girls get older).

My selection: BONDWOMEN (8.8s)