NG 303

New game 303 is now available.


Round 1: H I E T A B E C R

I had HATE, HABIT, HEBETIC (I've mentioned this before, the first time in NG 173: "relating to or occurring in puberty"), correctly rejected BEACHIER, BREATHE, lamented that one of those E's was not a second A for BRACHIATE, and TEACHER / CHEATER.  After time I noted an old favourite of THERIAC ("an antidote to venomous bites, etc. [...]") as another seven.

The other sevens are HECTARE / RETEACH, ETHERIC / HERETIC / TECHIER, and BATCHER / BRACHET (variant form of BRACH: "a bitch of the hound kind").

There is a possible eight, though: AETHERIC.  AETHERIC is one of those edge cases -- AETHER is listed as a variant spelling of ETHER, and ETHERIC is listed, but not AETHERIC explicitly.

My selection: HEBETIC
Best: AETHERIC (probably)


Round 2: F O A C R S T G U

I had SCARF, FROST, CROFTS, and FACTORS.

The other sevens are COUGARS, RAGOUTS / RAGOUST (variant spelling of RAGOUT), SURCOAT / TURACOS (TURACO being a type of bird), and FUGATOS (FUGATO being music in fugue style).

My selection: FACTORS


Round 3: Target 490 from 50 25 100 2 7 10

My first thought was to make this as 7*70, and a little manipulation yielded a solution: 490 = (50 + 25 - 10/2)*7.  (Seen only now is the rather simpler 490 = (50 + 2*10)*7.)  Then I looked at the more straightforward 500 - 10 and found another solution of 490 = (7 - 2)*100 - 10.

My selection: 490 = (50 + 25 - 10/2)*7


Round 4: O O N R C I M V S

I had CROON, MICRON, and MICRONS / CRIMSON.

Oh, dear, though, to see MICRONS but miss the eight of OMICRONS.  The other sevens are OMICRON / MORONIC and MORIONS (MORION: "an open helmet with a tall comb and a curved brim merging into a peak at front and back").

My selection: CRIMSON
Best: OMICRONS


Round 5: S A D N E O N P U

I had SAND, DEANS, ANODES, SPANNED, and wondered about UNPOSED (not valid, as it turns out).

The other seven is DUENNAS.

My selection: SPANNED


Round 6: Target 419 from 100 50 3 9 2 4

I first looked at working up from 4*100.  That meant needing to make 19 from the small numbers, and it was possible giving me the solution 419 = 4*(100 + 3) + 9 - 2.  Then I considered working down from 450 and found a shorter solution of 419 = 9*(50 - 3) - 4.

My selection: 419 = 9*(50 - 3) - 4


Round 7: E L R D O I L N I

I had ROLE, ROILED, a dubious DOLLIER (not valid), and wondered whether INROLLED might be a variant spelling of ENROLLED.  Several EN- words have IN- variants, but this was a bit less plausible than most.  I decided to chance it anyway, and that was the wrong decision.

Six seems to be the best to be done, with the others being ROLLED, ENROLL, IODINE, OILIER, IRONED, INLIER ("(in geology) an outcrop of a formation completely surrounded by younger strata") / LINIER, RILLED (RILL: "to flow in a small stream"), LILIED, RONDEL (a type of poem), NILLED (NILL: "not to will; not to want"), INDOLE (a certain chemical), NIELLO ("a black metallic composition, consisting of silver, copper, lead, and sulfur, with which an incised design is filled in to produce an ornamental effect"), NIELLI (one plural form of NIELLO).

My selection: [invalid -- INROLLED]
Best: ROLLED


Round 8: Target 304 from 25 1 6 8 8 9

I flailed for a bit trying to get close with 12*25, as 12 is not easy to come by.  So I switched tacks to use the factorisation 8*38 and found a solution in the small numbers alone: 304 = (6*8 - 9 - 1)*8.  I noted this was also 16*19, and applied a technique that I've often struggled to see in the past to get another solution of 304 = (8 + 8)*(25 - 6).

My selection: 304 = (6*8 - 9 - 1)*8


Round 9: FLUENT LIP

I pulled out the -FUL fragment early, but did not manage to unravel any of the rest into something sensible.  An annoying oversight.  Oh, well.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: PLENTIFUL