NG 285

New game 285 is now available.


Round 1: H Z O O O P R W L

Bleah, not an auspicious start.  I had HOOP, WHOOP, WHORL, and PROWL.

The other five is ORLOP ("the lowest deck of a ship").

My selection: WHORL


Round 2: I R F D E T I B S

I had FIRED, DRIFT, TIDIER, wondered about BISTRED (no joy) but then saw BESTRID (one form of the past tense of BESTRIDE) as its anagram.  After time I found DIRTIES as an easier seven (the anagram TIDIERS is not valid), and noted that an A instead of the F would have allowed DIATRIBES.

The other sevens are BIRDIES and FIBSTER.

My selection: BESTRID


Round 3: Target 118 from 25 3 6 9 1 7

The standard method works as 125 - 7, leading to 118 = (6 - 1)*25 - 7.  I tried to make it from the small numbers alone, and succeeded with 118 = (7 + 6)*9 + 1.

My selection: 118 = (7 + 6)*9 + 1


Round 4: R E A U C P T D U

I had UREA, CAPER, CAPTURE, CAPTURED, and TRADUCE / CURATED.

Those appear to be all the words longer than six letters; neither UPRATED nor UPDATER is in the Macquarie.

My selection: CAPTURED


Round 5: I I C R C B S F A

I had CRIB, CRIBS, BASIC, and FAIRS.

The six here is FABRIC, leading of course to the seven of FABRICS.

My selection: BASIC
Best: FABRICS


Round 6: Target 605 from 75 50 5 4 6 5

I tried the standard method at first, with the aim of making this as 600 + 5.  That seemed like it should be easy, with both 75 and 50 factors of it, but it was not completely straightforward.  I eventually got there with a split approach of 605 = 4*75 + 6*50 + 5.  Then I took the alternative approach of the factorisation 5*121 and that was much easier: 605 = (75 + 50 - 4)*5.

My selection: 605 = (75 + 50 - 4)*5


Round 7: O R O I M D S O L

I had ROOM, ROOMS, LORDS, and DROOLS.

The seven here is MILORDS, since MILORD is listed as a noun ("(a rendering of my lord, used as a term of address)").  The other sixes are MILORD and DOLORS.

My selection: DROOLS
Best: MILORDS


Round 8: Target 847 from 75 50 5 1 7 2

Pulling out the factor of 7 reveals that the cofactor is 121, just like in round 6.  And it's just about as easy from that observation, too: 847 = (75 + 50 - 5 + 1)*7.  A more conventional approach might have solved this as 850 - 3 via 847 = (7 + 5)*75 - 50 - 2 - 1.

My selection: 847 = (75 + 50 - 5 + 1)*7


Round 9: ABBOT DUEL

Pulling out the -ABLE fragment leaves DOUBT, and thus DOUBTABLE.

My selection: DOUBTABLE (2.6s)