NG 302

New game 302 is now available.


Round 1: N D S R E C O I S

I had RENDS, SCORNED, CONSIDER (if only I'd found this ages ago...), and CONSIDERS.  I flirted with other possible nines of CORDINESS / CORNSIDES / INCROSSED, but not seriously.  INCROSSED is given in the Scrabble list that I use, though.  After time I noted RESCINDS / DISCERNS as other eights.

CONSIDERS does appear to be the only nine; the other eights are INDORSES and NECROSIS.

My selection: CONSIDERS


Round 2: E E S A N D D S T

I had EASE, SEEN, DEANS, DEADENS, an uncertain DEADNESS, DEADEST, and DENSEST.  I decided to chance DEADNESS, but it turns out not to be valid.  After time I noted other sevens of SADDEST, SENSATE, SEDATES, and SEDATED.

The Scrabble list suggests DATEDNESS here, but the Macquarie does not have that, either.  There is an eight, though: ASSENTED.  The other sevens are SADDENS, STEADED, and SENATES / SATEENS (SATEEN: "a cotton fabric woven in satin weave and resembling satin in gloss").

My selection: [invalid -- DEADNESS]
Best: ASSENTED


Round 3: Target 365 from 50 100 4 6 8 9

Only the one odd number, so it seemed clear that I was going to want to make this as either 356 + 9 or 374 - 9.  The former was the more tempting, and a little thought yielded an answer of 365 = 4*100 - 50 + 9 + 6.

My selection: 365 = 4*100 - 50 + 9 + 6


Round 4: C L M D A O C O L

I had CALM and MODAL.  I was hoping for a second A for CLOACA (or CLOACAL, if replacing an O), but no such luck.  After time I noted LOCAL and COCOA as other sixes.

Five seems to be the limit; the others are MOOLA (variant spelling of MOOLAH, colloquial for money), MOLAL ("relating to gram-molecular weight, or containing a mole"; that's "mole" in the chemistry sense of a certain number of molecules, not the animal), DOLMA (perhaps more familiar in the plural as DOLMADES), and ALDOL (a certain chemical).

My selection: MODAL


Round 5: O T R E R T E I P

I had TORE, TORR (a unit of pressure), ROTTER, PRETTIER, PETTIER, and TREETOP.  After time I considered POTTIER, but checking confirmed what I thought I recalled: That it is not valid.

The other eights are POTTERER, PORTIERE ("a curtain hung at a doorway, either to replace the door or merely for decoration"), and PRETERIT (variant spelling of PRETERITE: "Grammar designating a tense usually denoting an action or state which was completed in the past [...]").

There do not appear to be any other sevens; PIERROT is listed, but only with a capital letter.

My selection: PRETTIER


Round 6: Target 581 from 50 100 9 2 7 3

The standard method suggested working from 600 or 550; for the former, I got sidetracked by (9 + 3)*50 and was not able to complete that.  What I have seen just now is that 6*100 was rather more promising, leading to 581 = (9 - 3)*(100 - 2) - 7.  In any case, working up from 550 got me to one away with 582 = 9*(50 + 3) + 100 + 7 - 2.  Then I looked further afield, and noted that the offset from 700 was 119, which is also divisible by 7.  That made me see the factorisation 7*83, and I was able to make that work with 581 = (50 + (9 + 2)*3)*7.

My selection: 581 = (50 + (9 + 2)*3)*7


Round 7: A G O I K L T H T

I had GOAL, LIGHT, TIGHT, and GOLIATH.  I had been hoping for an A for OTALGIA or a D for HIDALGO, or even a U for AGOUTI, but the actual H worked out well enough.

GOLIATH is the only seven; the six is ALIGHT.

My selection: GOLIATH


Round 8: Target 686 from 100 25 75 50 10 3

I recognised the target immediately as twice the cube of 7.  That didn't feel overly useful, but one way to partition that factorisation is as 7*98, and when viewed that way both parts were pretty clear, yielding the solution 686 = (10 - 3)*(100 - 50/25).

That is essentially the only working approach; the other variations are to use (75 + 25)/50 instead of 50/25, and then to swap (75 + 25) and 100.

My selection: 686 = (10 - 3)*(100 - 50/25)


Round 9: TWO SHAPES

I was cruising through possible conundrums a bit too fast, perhaps, but this looked like it would be a plural and so rejectable.  I posited SHOWTAPES, but this was not correct.  I don't know if I would have found the answer if I'd been sure it was acceptable; I was focused on using -OW for the W, and that was not correct.

My selection: [invalid -- SHOWTAPES]
Best: SWEATSHOP