NG 332

New game 332 is now available.


Round 1: A E T O O R S G H

I had ROTA, ROOST, HOSTAGE, and SHORTAGE.  I amused myself with the idea of an AEROGHOST or GOATHORSE, but not seriously.

The other eight is ROOTAGES.  The other sevens are ROOTAGE, GATHERS, HOOTERS / SHOOTER / RESHOOT / SOOTHER, STORAGE, and ORGEATS (ORGEAT: "a syrup or drink made from almonds (originally from barley), sugar, and a water prepared from orange flowers").

Note that -- as discussed in a comment on one of my posts about word validity -- EARSHOT is only given in the Macquarie in combination, so would not be allowed (or so I interpret it).

My selection: SHORTAGE


Round 2: U B I G E R R C N

I had GIBE, BRIG, an uncertain BURIER (valid), an uncertain CUBING, wanted to turn the B into another R for RECURRING, CURING, CRINGE, wondered about CRINGER (valid), and CURBING for a valid seven at last.  After time I noted BRINGER as another seven.

The other sevens are BURRING and BRUCINE (an alkaloid similar to strychnine).

My selection: CURBING


Round 3: Target 217 from 100 4 8 9 10 5

The target is 7*31 but that seemed hard to exploit.  Instead I noticed that my normal approach with a different large number would be to make this as 9*25 - 8, and then made the 25 to get the solution 217 = (100/4)*25 + 8.  I also noted a more tradition use of the standard method for 217 = (10/5)*100 + 9 + 8.

My selection: 217 = (100/4)*9 - 8


Round 4: I O P O M M N P E

I had MOON, PIMP, POMMIE, and POOPIE (not valid, nor is POOPY; I'm a bit surprised by that).

POMMIE is a slight borderline case: It is listed as a variant spelling of POMMY, and one of the definitions of POMMY notes that lowercase is acceptable.  Strictly speaking, no such note is made for POMMIE but I regard this as simply an artefact of the presentation and consider that POMMIE should be valid.  Of course, I'm not entirely impartial about this.

The other sixes are POMPOM, POMPON (variant form of POMPOM), and PEPINO (a type of shrub).

My selection: POMMIE


Round 5: D T E S O S L O L

I had DOTES, TOSSED, rightly rejected DOTLESS and LOOTLESS / TOOLLESS (this latter would be valid in Scrabble, apparently), an uncertain STOOLED (valid, as I mentioned in episode 423; STOOL as a verb is "to throw up shoots from the base or root, as a plant"), and LOOSEST.

Seven does seem to be the best to be done, with the others being TOLEDOS (TOLEDO having an acceptable lower case form: "a type of sword or sword blade") and LOTOSES (LOTOS being a variant spelling of LOTUS).

My selection: LOOSEST


Round 6: Target 650 from 50 75 100 9 6 6

Rather easy to make 650 = 6*100 + 50 from this.  I played around with it a bit, though, to get an alternative solution via a scenic route: 650 = ((9*100)/75 + 6/6)*50.

My selection: 650 = 6*100 + 50


Round 7: C S A E T M U B R

I had CASE, TEAMS, rejected SUBTEAM (correctly so), CAMBERS, and CURATES.

Good letters, but there does not seem to be an eight.  The other sevens are MATURES / STRUMAE (plural of STRUMA: "Botany a cushion-like swelling on an organ, as that at one side of the base of the capsule in many mosses""), and CUMBERS (CUMBER: "to hinder; hamper"; essentially a shorter form of ENCUMBER).

My selection: CURATES


Round 8: Target 302 from 100 75 4 6 2 2

Another easy numbers round, but this time I did not find anything particularly noteworthy after 302 = 4*75 + 2.

My selectioni: 302 = 4*75 + 2


Round 9: LEG CUDDLE

I was perhaps reminded a bit of episode 324 with this mix, as I found CUDGELLED quickly (by my standards).

My selection: CUDGELLED (2.2s)