NG 308

New game 308 is now available.


Round 1: N D N A M O A S E

I had DAMN, MONAD, MONADS, and DAEMONS.  After time I noted MANNOSE (a type of sugar) as another seven.

There are two eights here: MADONNAS and ADENOMAS (ADENOMA: "a tumour originating in a gland").  The other sevens are MADONNA, ADENOMA, SANDMAN (but not SANDMEN -- no plural form is listed), MASONED, and MAENADS (MAENAD: "frenzied or raging woman").

My selection: DAEMONS
Best: MADONNAS


Round 2: M U F S R I O T C

I had FURS, TRUISM, FRUITS, and COURTS.  I was completely stuck on the sixes; it took me a couple of minutes afterwards to consider the -FORM ending and find the nine of SCUTIFORM ("shield-shaped").  A bit later I noted SCROTUM as a findable seven.

There do not appear to be any eights; the other sevens are TOURISM, CITROUS, and COMFITS (COMFIT being listed as an obsolete term for "a sugar-coated sweet").

My selection: TRUISM
Best: SCUTIFORM


Round 3: Target 993 from 25 100 1 4 10 5

Easy enough to get nearby, but the target itself proves difficult.  I had one away with 992 = 10*100 - 5 - 4 + 1 (a simpler one away was 994 = 10*(100 - 1) + 4), and that was the best I could do.  With good reason, as it turns out -- the target is unreachable, and one off is the best possible.

My selection: 992 = 10*100 - 5 - 4 + 1  [1 off]


Round 4: I A R I D S A N G

I had RAID, RAIDS, RAISIN, RAISING, and SANGRIA.  For a brief moment I thought that DIARISING was there, but that would require one of the A's to be another I.  I also observed that a U instead of one of those I's would have allowed GUARDIANS.

The other sevens are RAIDING, ARISING / AIRINGS, RADIANS, RIDINGS (RIDING in this context being "an area division within a shire"), and DARINGS / GRADINS (GRADIN: "one of a series of steps or seats raised one above another").

My selection: RAISING
Best: GAINSAID


Round 5: L A O M N P R T U

I had LOAM, MOAN, PALM, MOLAR, POLAR, and AMOUNT.  After time I noted other sixes of PORTAL / PATROL, MORTAL, PATRON, and wondered about UNMORAL.  Checking confirmed that it was valid, and it turns out to be the best to be done.

The other seven is MARPLOT ("someone who mars or defeats a plot, design, or project by officious interference").  The other sixes are NORMAL, OUTRAN, OUTMAN, MATRON, TAMPON, PARTON ("a hypothetical point-like object within protons, neutrons, etc.") / TARPON (a type of fish), PLUTON ("any body of igneous rock that solidified far below the earth's surface"), ANTRUM ("a cavity in a bone, especially that in the maxilla"), and MORULA ("the mass of cells, supposedly resembling a mulberry, resulting from the cleavage of the ovum before the formation of a blastula").

My selection: AMOUNT
Best: UNMORAL


Round 6: Target 271 from 50 75 100 3 3 10

Another tough numbers round; once again I had an easy one off with 270 = 3*(100 - 10), but could not get closer.  The offset of 4 was not easy to come by, nor did the offset of 21 look very promising to me.

It was, though, expensive though it is in small numbers.  10 - 3 is 7, and 7*3 is 21, and tweaking options are open as a result with 250 as the target.  There are three solutions, all of them using this tweak and just taking different routes to the 250.  They are 271 = (50 + 10 - 3)*3 + 100, 271 = (100 + 10 - 3)*3 - 50, and 271 = (10 - 3)*(50 + 3) - 100.

My selection: 270 = 3*(100 - 10)  [1 off]
Best: 271 = (10 - 3)*(50 + 3) - 100


Round 7: O C R G N O I E W

I had CORN, CROON, CORING, REGION, and CREWING.  I also noted that turning the W upside down (to make it an M) would allow ERGONOMIC.  Seen after time is the eight of COWERING, which I feel I really should have seen.  I also noted CROWING as another seven.

That is both sevens listed, but there is another eight: OROGENIC (adjective derived from OROGENESIS: "Geology the process of mountain-making or upheaval of the earth's crust").

My selection: CREWING
Best: COWERING


Round 8: Target 209 from 75 100 50 1 1 5

The pair of 1's is rarely a good sign, and although the target is low it is still pretty challenging.  I wrote down a fallback one off 210 = (1 + 1)*(100 + 5), then played for a bit with the factorisation 11*19.  That was not userful overall, so I switched tacks and rather late in the piece spotted the appropriate adjustment down from 225 with 209 = (100/50 + 1)*(75 - 5) - 1.

That turns out to be the only solution.

My selection: 209 = (100/50 + 1)*(75 - 5) - 1


Round 9: WAIST BELT

Pulling out the -ABLE fragment hopefully leads relatively quickly to TWISTABLE.

My selection: TWISTABLE (4.4s)