NG 311

New game 311 is now available.


Round 1: A T E A F G R E R

I had FEAT, GREAT, and FERRATE.  After time I noted some sixes of ERRATA and RAFTER / FARTER (as I mentioned recently, this is listed as colloquial for a sleeping bag), and then belatedly saw the alternative seven of GREATER.

The other sevens are GRAFTER, REGRATE ("to buy up (grain, provisions, etc.) in order to sell again at a profit in or near the same market"), and RATAFEE (variant spelling of RATAFIA: "a cordial or liqueur flavoured with fruit-kernels, fruit, or the like").

My selection: FERRATE


Round 2: U M M O S N H I E

I had SUMO, MUONS, IMMUNE, and IMMUNES (IMMUNE as a noun: "someone who is immune").

The other sevens are HEINOUS and INHUMES (INHUME: "to bury").

My selection: IMMUNES


Round 3: Target 733 from 3 9 7 10 5 3

I wanted to make this as 10*73 + 3 or 10*74 - 7, but could not get either approach to work.  I wrote down a fallback three off with 730 = (5 + 3)*9*10 + 7 + 3, then improved that to one off with 732 = 7*(5*3 + 10*9) - 3.  The thought process there went that 7*9*10 was 630, which was 103 away from the target.  That is near 105, which is 7*5*3, and the tweak followed.

The target turns out to be unreachable, and one off the best to be done.

My selection: 732 = 7*(5*3 + 10*9) - 3  [1 off]


Round 4: A T I C S N D F O

I had CAST, ANTICS, ACTIONS, and FACTIONS.

The other eight is FACTOIDS.  The other sevens are FACTION, FACTOID, CATIONS / ATONICS (ATONIC: "Phonetics an unaccented word, syllable, or sound"), DACOITS (DACOIT: "Indian English one of a band of armed thieves; bandit"), FANTODS (FANTOD being marked as obsolete for "a temperamental mannerism or affectation"), DISCANT (variant spelling of DESCANT), and CONFITS (CONFIT: "salted meat, cooked in its own fat, and then packed into a crock or pot and sealed with its own fat").

My selection: FACTIONS


Round 5: S H O O R L G A T

I had SHOO, GALOSH, and GROATS ("the parts of oat kernels used as food") / ARGOTS (ARGOT: "the peculiar language or jargon of any class or group").  I also observed that a Y instead of the H would have allowed ASTROLOGY, but alas there's no such thing as an ASTROLOG.

After time I added GLOATS as another six, and a bit later found HARLOTS for seven.  The other sevens are GASOHOL and GALOOTS.

My selection: GROATS
Best: GASOHOL


Round 6: Target 663 from 75 1 4 3 9 10

I observed the targets closeness to 666, which is 18*37 or 9*74.  It was a short step from that to a solution of 663 = 9*(75 - 1) - 3.  Of course, this is just a tweaked form of 9*75 - 12, which is arguably more straightforward an approach: 663 = 9*75 - 3*4.

My selection: 663 = 9*(75 - 1) - 3


Round 7: W L U B A I R S K

I had BAWL, RAILS, BRISK, WALKS, and flailed around for a bit.  I considered (and correctly rejected SUBWALK and SUBRAIL / BRUISAL before settling on WALRUS for six.

There is better to be done -- an eight, in fact.  It is BULWARKS.  The sevens are BULWARK and BURIALS.  There is a decent spread of sixes, with BURIAL and BRAWLS being perhaps the most common.

My selection: WALRUS
Best: BULWARKS


Round 8: Target 104 from 75 1 2 5 4 7

Good small numbers, and a low target, means that this is likely to be easy.  So I stayed focused on the small numbers alone, noting that the target was 4*26 and deriving a solution of 104 = (7*(2 + 1) + 5)*4.  I also saw that it could be written as 8*13, leading to the alternative solution 104 = (7 + 1)*(2*4 + 5).

My selection: 104 = (7*(2 + 1) + 5)*4


Round 9: RUB VIOLET

The V is often provocative; after a brief distraction of the -IBLE fragment I considered OVER- and soon had the answer of OVERBUILT.

My selection: OVERBUILT (5.4s)