NG 280

New game 280 is now available.


Round 1: A T I U O R D P M

I had IOTA, RATIO, ADROIT, and PAROTID ("either of two saliva-producing glands situated one at the base of each ear").

The other sevens are AUDITOR and PROTIUM ("the common isotope of hydrogen, of atomic weight 1.008").

My selection: PAROTID


Round 2: R E A G I R N M D

I had RAGE, RAGER, EARRING / REARING, and DREAMING.

The other eights are REARMING and MARGINED.

My selection: DREAMING


Round 3: Target 443 from 50 100 10 4 1 5

The standard method works out satisfactorily with the solution 443 = 5*100 - 50 - 10 + 4 - 1.

My selection: 443 = 5*100 - 50 - 10 + 4 - 1


Round 4: W S I E S N I L H

I had WISE, WINLESS, WHILES, WHINES, and wondered about SHINIES (not valid).  After time I noted SWINISH as another seven.

Those are all the sevens listed, but there is an eight: WILINESS.

My selection: WINLESS
Best: WILINESS


Round 5: N T U O P A E K X

I had UNTO, PEANUT, and wondered about AUTOPEN.  That one keeps cropping up in the Scrabble list, but it's not in the Macquarie.

Six appears to be the limit; the other is UPTAKE.

My selection: PEANUT


Round 6: Target 528 from 75 25 100 8 8 6

The target is near 7*75 but a 7 is clearly difficult to come by.  But a roundabout way to the 8*75 got me to one off with 527 = 8*75 - 100 + 25 + 8 - 6.  Then I realised that the offset of 72 from 8*75 was also divisible by 8, indicating the factorisation 8*66 and thus 8*6*11.  That happy observation led to the solution 528 = (8 + 75/25)*6*8.

My selection: 528 = (8 + 75/25)*6*8


Round 7: R A C G A T S N I

I had AGAR, CART, CARTS, CASTING, ARTISAN, wondered about CARTINGS (not valid) then realised that its anagram TRACINGS was surely safe.

The other eight is GRANITAS (GRANITA: "a coarse-grained sorbet").

My selection: TRACINGS


Round 8: Target 566 from 50 75 25 3 1 2

I found this to be a very tough round.  At first I could only barely get within range with the ten away 556 = 3*2*(75 + 25 + 1) - 50.  Working down from 625 got me closer with the 6 away 572 = 25*75/3 - 50 - 2 - 1, but that was the best I could do within time.

After time I managed to improve that to 5 away with 571 = 25*(75 - 50 - 2) - 3 - 1, but no better.  A more findable 5 away is 561 = (50 + 1)*(3*75/25 + 2).

The winning option here is to realise that 66 is close to 200 / 3, meaning that the target is (1700 - 2)/3.  The useful value nearest to 1700 is 25*75 = 1875, which is 175 away.  A little fiddling with that idea could produce the solution 566 = (25*(75 - 1) - 2)/3 - 50.

There are two other solutions: 566 = (75 + 2)*(25 - 1)/3 - 50 and 566 = ((75 + 1)*(25 - 2) - 50)/3.

My selection: 572 = 25*75/3 - 50 - 2 - 1  [6 off]
Best: 566 = (25*(75 - 1) - 2)/3 - 50


Round 9: I DOUSE CUD

The -OUS ending is tempting, and I was fortunate enough to quickly spot the answer of DECIDUOUS.

My selection: DECIDUOUS (1.4s)