NG 284

New game 284 is now available.


Round 1: N L U I S S I M I


I had SINS and SINUS -- not a very promising start!  After time I noted down SLIMS and MINUS as two other fives that I had seen, but could not find longer.

The six here is MUSLIN, and that leads to the seven of MUSLINS.

My selection: SINUS
Best: MUSLINS


Round 2: W A O C E S A G L

I had CASE, CAGES, and SOLACE.  I amused myself with treating CASE LAW as one word, and with COALAGE and COALAGES, but they were never plausible enough to try.  (CASE LAW does get a mention, mind you, but only as two words.)

The seven here is COWAGES (COWAGE being a plant).  The other sixes are COWAGE, SAWLOG ("a log large enough to saw into boards"), and CALESA ("a type of horse-drawn carriage [...]").

My selection: SOLACE
Best: COWAGES


Round 3: Target 297 from 50 75 5 9 8 6

An easy enough application of the standard method: 297 = 6*50 - (8 - 5).  I was tempted by the factorisation 9*33 but could not get it to work within time (although just now I have seen 297 = 9*(75 - 50 + 8)).

My selection: 297 = 6*50 - (8 - 5)


Round 4: F E R T T H S A E

I had FRET, FRETS, FASTER, FATHERS, and FEATHERS.  A "Dutch oven" might be a SHEETFART, but it's not enough to render that term plausible.

The other eights are FARTHEST and THEATRES / THEATERS.  There are a good many sevens, more than I feel like listing.

My selection: FEATHERS


Round 5: B I R D C D B E U

I had BIRD, CRIB, and CRIBBED.  I wondered about BUDDIER but was not surprised that it was not valid (I'll note that BUDDY is listed with a verb sense, though, so a third D would have made BUDDIED an option).

The other seven is DRUBBED.

My selection: CRIBBED


Round 6: Target 714 from 50 100 10 5 3 5

I got hung up on some unhelpful options, although they did suffice for a fallback one-off 715 = 5*(100 + 50 - 5) - 10.  Then I realised the factorisation 7*102; I was about to skip past it when I realised that a 7 could be made as 10 - 3, and then that I could also make the required 2.  The resulting solution was 714 = (100 + 50/(5*5))*(10 - 3).

That is essentially the only solution (there is another formed by swapping 50/5 and 10).

My selection: 714 = (100 + 50/(5*5))*(10 - 3)


Round 7: R G C N E I C P E

I had REIGN, CRINGE, wondered about RECCEING (it turns out to be acceptable, with RECCE being colloquial for RECONNOITRE), CREEPING, GENERIC, and CREPING (CREPE as a verb: "to cover, cloth, or drape with crepe").

CREEPING and RECCEING are the only eights; the other seven is PEERING.

My selection: CREEPING


Round 8: Target 587 from 50 3 4 4 1 5

The standard method suggests making this as 12*50 - 13, and although that was not directly applicable a tweak turned the 13 into 12 + 1 for a solution: 587 = 3*4*(50 - 1) - (5 - 4).  Then I looked at another method of making the 13 and found the alternative 87 = 4*(3*50 - 1) - 4 - 5.

Seen just now is a shorter option than both: 587 = 3*(4*50 - 4) - 1.

My selection: 587 = 3*4*(50 - 1) - (5 - 4)


Round 9: INNER MUTT

I chose this conundrum explicitly after misguessing it as the answer for what turned out to be INUREMENT.  It seemed to me that NUTRIMENT was the more common word, although I may have been wrong about this.

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