NG 320

New game 320 is now available.


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

I had SORE, SCORE, and CROSSED.  I wondered about DISCOES and DISCOERS, but correctly decided that neither would be valid.  I also briefly considered SORICIDES as a kind of shortening of SORORICIDES, but was unsurprised when later checking confirmed this was not valid.  After time I noted another seven of CISSOID ("a curve having a cusp at the origin and a point of inflection at infinity") and that a U instead of that second I would have allowed DISCOURSE.

The other sevens are DOSSIER, IODISES, CIRSOID ("varix-like; varicose"), and ERICOID ("(of a leaf) small and sharp-pointed, as the leaf of an erica or other heath").  But there is an eight: IODISERS.

My selection: CROSSED
Best: IODISERS


Round 2: M N A O D Q E N O

I had MOAN, MONAD, MOANED / DAEMON, and MANNED.

The other six is MOONED.

My selection: MOANED


Round 3: Target 932 from 100 5 4 5 10 10

Too many values divisible by 5 for this to be easy.  Using 10*100 as a starting point and tweaking down got me to one away with 931 = 10*(100 - 5) - 10 - 5 - 4, and in the end that was the best I could do.  The offsest of 32 could be made with 4*(10 - 10/5), but that would only be helpful if the remaining 5 were a 9 instead (so that the 900 could be formed).

As it turns out, the target is unreachable and the above answer is the only way to get as close as one away.

My selection: 931 = 10*(100 - 5) - 10 - 5 - 4  [1 off]


Round 4: F E O B T K B S E

I had BEST, TOKES / STOKE, and wondered if BETOKES might be an archaic variant of BETOKENS (it is not).  I didn't like it, so five was where I stayed.

There are some sixes to be had, though: KEBOBS (KEBOB being a variant spelling of KEBAB), KETOSE ("any of the sugars which have a ketone group or its equivalent"), and BOSKET ("a grove; a thicket").

My selection: STOKE
Best: BOSKET


Round 5: T E S R T O S M O

I had REST, STORE, OTTERS, STORMS, rightly rejected TESTROOMS, MOROSE, an uncertain TOOTERS (valid), and a similarly uncertain MOOTERS (also valid).  I decided to risk the latter, which happily paid off.

The other sevens are MOTTOES (MOTTOS is also an acceptable plural form of MOTTO), MOSTEST, and TOOTSES (plural of TOOTS in the sense of "a beloved one (often used in direct address)").

My selection: MOOTERS


Round 6: Target 612 from 50 75 8 7 1 10

The standard method was well worth investigating, although the offset of 12 required a little work but I spotted the way to make a 5 and it fell out after that: 612 = 8*75 + 50/10 + 7.  It was only after time that I noticed the factor of 9 (with cofactor 68), leading to an alternative solution of 612 = (8 + 1)*(75 - 7).

My selection: 612 = 8*75 + 50/10 + 7


Round 7: W C A E T A T N E

I had TACT, ENACT, CATENAE (plural of CATENA: "a chain or connected series, especially of extracts from the writings of the fathers of the Christian church"), and ACETATE.

Some sources give CATENATE as an old synonym of CONCATENATE (this is the source of the name for the UNIX "cat" command, in fact).  The Macquarie does not have it, though, so I was lucky to overlook this option (while still being vexed at not seeing it).

CATENAE and ACETATE appear to be the only sevens; the sixes are CATENA and TENACE / CETANE (a certain chemical)

My selection: ACETATE


Round 8: Target 691 from 100 75 4 5 6 6

The offset of 9 is a little difficult to make while leaving enough useful numbers behind, and so is 16.  I had a fallback one off with 690 = 6*100 + 75 + 6 + 5 + 4, then realised that I could tweak the obvious 9 in order to get a solution after all: 691 = 4*(100 + 75 - 6/6) - 5.

My selection: 691 = 4*(100 + 75 - 6/6) - 5


Round 9: A HARD GIMP

I chose this conundrum explicitly after being presented with the similar (but unusable) DIAGRAPHS.

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explicitly]
Best: DIAPHRAGM