NG 300

New game 300 is now available.


Round 1: H D D E E F B O L

I had HEED, BEEF, BEHOLD, FOLDED, and BEHELD (being briefly disappointed that BEHOLDED was not the correct past tense).

The other six is HEDDLE: "(in a loom) one of the sets of vertical cords or wires, forming the principal part of the harness which guides the warp threads".

My selection: BEHOLD


Round 2: K N O N R E T U T

I had NEON, a dubious TONKER (not valid), OUTER, wondered about KNOTTER (not valid), NUTTER, UNKNOT (later checking revealed this was not valid, which surprised me), and contemplated UNKNOTTER (also not valid).  They were just a bit too iffy for me, so NUTTER was where I stayed.

There is a seven here, and one I've found before on occasion: NEUTRON.  The other sixes are NEURON, ROTTEN, UNTORN, TENUTO (a musical term: "held or sustained to its full time value, as a note or chord; not staccato"), TOUTER, and NEKTON ("the aggregate of actively swimming organisms at the surface of the sea").

My selection: NUTTER
Best: NEUTRON


Round 3: Target 922 from 50 3 6 4 2 10

The first step was getting near with 3*6*50, and although the offset of 22 is a little awkward there is plenty of tweaking material.  I went with 922 = 3*(6*50 + 4) + 10.

My selection: 922 = 3*(6*50 + 4) + 10


Round 4: C T S C S O O A C

I had COSTS and ACCOSTS.

ACCOSTS is the only seven; the sixes are ACCOST, COASTS, COCOAS, and SCOOTS.

My selection: ACCOSTS


Round 5: T A E T O U D M H

I had TEAT, TOUTED, MUTATED, and MOUTHED.

The other seven is OUTDATE.  Lots of sixes, of which I'll just make special note of METHOD.

My selection: MUTATED


Round 6: Target 182 from 50 9 4 2 3 4

I started with a prosaic 182 = 4*(50 - 4) - 2, then tried to use the factorisation 13*14 and found a solution in small numbers alone: 182 = (4 + 3)*(9 + 4)*2.

My selection: 182 = (4 + 3)*(9 + 4)*2


Round 7: R N S R D E S U A

I had RENDS, DRESS, SUNDERS / UNDRESS, ASUNDER, ASSURED, and DANSEURS (DANSEUR: "a male ballet dancer").

DANSEURS appears to be the only eight; I was a bit surprised that my after-time find of RANSEURS was not listed (a RANSEUR being a type of polearm).  The other sevens are DANSEUR, SUNDAES, ERRANDS / DARNERS, ASSURER, NURSERS, SNARERS, and SANDERS.

My selection: DANSEURS


Round 8: Target 333 from 50 5 6 7 2 10

I wanted to use the factorisation 9*37 but was not able to get that to work (later checking shows that it is possible to use 111*3, though, as 333 = (50*2 + 6 + 5)*(10 - 7)).  Instead I went with the standard method and 333 = 7*50 - 10 - 5 - 2, then kitchen sinked it with 333 = (50 - 10 - 6)*5*2 - 7.

My selection: 333 = 7*50 - 10 - 5 - 2


Round 9: ACME SYRUP

I ended up choosing this conundrum explicitly, after being presented with the similar SUPREMITY (also valid) and deciding that SUPREMACY was a bit more common.

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