NG 283

New game 283 is now available.


Round 1: T I M L I T T A S

After those T's arrived it felt like only an A and I or E would help much (I was thinking of MILITIA or MILITATE).  The next vowel was an E so there could have been an eight if four vowels had been taken.  Anyway, I had MILT ("the secretion of the male generative organs of fishes"), LIMIT, and LIMITS.

LIMITS is the only six, and the best to be done.  Other sources might allow TITLIST (that's someone who holds a title, just to be clear), but it's not in the Macquarie.

My selection: LIMITS


Round 2: E E C U S A N K X

I had CUES, CANED, EXCUSE, UNCASE, and contemplated but correctly rejected UNCAKES.

Six is again the best on offer; the others are ENCASE / SEANCE, UNEASE, and USANCE.

My selection: EXCUSE


Round 3: Target 114 from 100 75 7 10 6 10

I started with 114 = 100 + 7 + 6 + 10/10, then saw that it was perhaps more obvious to go with 114 = 100 + 10 + 10 - 6.

My selection: 114 = 100 + 10 + 10 - 6


Round 4: E E O P R N S R S

I had ROPE, PRONE, OPENER / REOPEN, OPENERS / REOPENS, and wondered about PRESSOR.  That last is sometimes used in science fiction books as a counterpart to a tractor, but that seemed a bit far removed from the Macquarie's usual scope.  Indeed, it does not list that sense; however, it does have the word as an adjective: "increasing pressure, as in the circulatory system".  After time I noted that an I instead of one of those E's would have allowed PRISONERS, and a bit later saw RESPONSE for eight.

RESPONSE is the only eight (REPOSERS might be tempting, but it is not listed); the other sevens are REPOSES, PERSONS, SNORERS, SEÑORES (plural of SEÑOR), PRESSER / REPRESS, and PERRONS (PERRON: "an outside platform upon which the entrance door of a building opens, with steps leading to it").

My selection: OPENERS
Best: RESPONSE


Round 5: I E N S A D R I M

I had SINE, ANISE, SARDINE, SIDEMAN, and MISREAD / SIDEARM.  It felt like longer should be possible so I spent a bit after time searching, noting along the way that an A in stead of an I would yield MARINADES.  I noted down MINDERS, REMANDS, SANDIER, and REMAINS / SEMINAR, and then after a couple of minutes spotted MERIDIANS for nine.  Once I had done that I found the eights of MERIDIAN and SEMIARID, and another seven of MEDIANS.

MERIDIANS is the only nine, as one would expect. The other eight is DIAMINES (DIAMINE: "a compound containing two amine groups").

My selection: SARDINE
Best: MERIDIANS


Round 6: Target 347 from 100 50 5 9 6 8 

I aimed to keep the 8 and 5 separate to make a 3, and was able to get to 350 with the rest for the solution 347 = 9*50 - 100 - (8 - 5).  (Had I aimed to make the 3 as 9 - 6 instead I might have found 347 = 5*50 + 100 - (9 - 6).)  While playing around with working up from 300 I spotted an alternative option of 347 = 6*(50 + 5) + 9 + 8.

My selection: 347 = 9*50 - 100 - (8 - 5)


Round 7: D A E E L A C R C

I had LEAD, LACED / DECAL, CRADLE, CEREAL, a dubious RELACED (not valid) then the safe anagram CLEARED, and an uncertain ACCEDER (it turns out to be acceptable).  After time I noted DECLARE as another seven.

The other sevens are CREEDAL (adjective derived from CREED) and CALDERA ("a large crater formed by the explosion or subsidence of the cone of a volcano").

My selection: CLEARED


Round 8: Target 314 from 75 10 1 10 1 9

Ergh, horrible small numbers to try and work with, and the result is awkward indeed.  I managed to tweak my way down from 5*75 to get what felt like a decent 2 away 316 = (10/(1 + 1))*(75 - 10) - 9.

Checking after time confirmed that this was actually solvable, and also that 315 was gettable.  I played around a bit more but still could not solve it, so I looked at one of the 315 solutions enough to observe that it made 315 as 9*35.  With that in place I saw that 315 = (75 - (10 + 10)*(1 + 1))*9, which was findable if I had thought of 9*35.

With further thought I decided that 314 must be made as 9*35 - 1, and eventually found the alternative route to 315 that made it possible; the solution that results is 314 = ((10 + 1)*10 - 75)*9 - 1.  This is the only solution -- definitely a tough one to find!

My selection: 316 = (10/(1 + 1))*(75 - 10) - 9  [2 off]
Best: 314 = ((10 + 1)*10 - 75)*9 - 1


Round 9: END HUN LAD

I was slow off the mark on this one, although I was presented it in slightly less helpful form.  The usual UN- and -ED combination makes UNHANDLED quite spottable.

My selection: UNHANDLED (5.1s)