NG 315

New game 315 is now available.


Round 1: L G O H E A C I C

I had HOLE, HALO, GLACÉ ("crystallised, as fruits"), CHOICE, and CLOCHE ("a bell-shaped or tunnel-like cover, as used to cover and protect young plants, usually made of glass").  I also noted that an N instead of the G would have allowed COCHINEAL.

There are some sevens here: CHALICE / CALICHE ("a surface deposit consisting of sand or clay impregnated with crystalline salts, such as sodium nitrate or sodium chloride"), COCHLEA, and COELIAC ("or or relating to the cavity of the abdomen").

The other sixes are GOALIE, CALICO, CLICHÉ / CHICLE ("a gum-like substance obtained from certain tropical American trees, as the sapodilla, used in the manufacture of chewing gum, etc."), CELIAC (variant spelling of COELIAC), CHIGOE (a type of flea), ECHOIC ("echo-like"), LOCHIA ("the liquid discharge from the uterus after childbirth"), and HELIAC (variant form of HELIACAL: "relating to or occurring near the sun [...]").

My selection: CHOICE
Best: CHALICE


Round 2: P M E E I H V I G

I had HEMP, GIVE, and VEGIE.

VEGIE appears to be the only five; the other fours are HIVE, GHEE, GIMP, HEME (variant spelling of HAEM: "a porphyrin containing iron, the non-protein portion [...] of haemoglobin"), and IMPI ("a group of Bantu warriors").

My selection: VEGIE


Round 3: Target 362 from 50 8 1 2 4 9

The target is 38 away from 8*50, and some tweaking among the small numbers finished that off: 362 = 8*(50 - 4) - (9 - 2 - 1).  (Seen just now is the simpler option of 8*(50 - 4 - 1) + 2.)  Then I considered instead making the target as 7*50 + 12; there's two easy ways to make a 7, and fortunately one of them makes the 12 easy as well: 362 = (9 - 2)*50 + 8 + 4.

My selection: 362 = (9 - 2)*50 + 8 + 4


Round 4: E R O R B U M I N

I had ROBE, BORER, BURRO, ERBIUM / IMBRUE, and NUMBER.  I was looking for other -IUM elements, but it was only after time that I saw the other element in the mix: BROMINE.

The other seven is MOURNER.

My selection: NUMBER
Best: BROMINE


Round 5: N U T E N T O N C

I had TUNE, TENUTO ("Music held or sustained to its full time value, as a note or chord; not staccato"), and CONTENT, briefly flirting with UNCONTENT but correctly rejecting it.

CONTENT looks like the only seven; the other six is NOCENT ("hurtful; harmful; injurious").

My selection: CONTENT


Round 6: Target 516 from 25 1 7 3 10 4

My first thought was to make this as 525 - 9; the multiplier for 25 is 21, which is easy enough: 516 = 3*7*25 - (10 - 1).  The target also factors as 4*129, which took me more effort than I expected to get to work: 516 = ((7 + 1)*(10 + 3) + 25)*4.

I could have made the target more easily as 3*43, of course, leading to 516 = (25 + 10 + 7 + 1)*3*4.  The factor of 3 also leads to easier solutions, such as 516 = (7*25 - 3)*3, where one of the 3's is 4 - 1.

My selection: 516 = 3*7*25 - (10 - 1)


Round 7: E F O E D E R S P

I had FEED, FEEDER, FEEDERS, SPEEDER, FORESEE, and REPOSED / DEPOSER.

That appears to be all the allowable sevens, with nothing longer on offer.

My selection: FORESEE


Round 8: Target 621 from 50 100 25 75 4 7

The target is 625 - 4, which is particularly easy for anyone who has studied the four large mix as 625 is 25*25.  I went with a first solution of 621 = 25*(75 - 50) - 4, then noted an alternative of 621 = 7*100 - 75 - 4.

My selection: 621 = 25*(75 - 50) - 4


Round 9: PORT CIDER

I almost jumped in with DEPICTOR (not valid in any case), but caught the error before doing so and was able to find the correct answer of PREDICTOR.

My selection: PREDICTOR (5.3s)