NG 336

New game 336 is now available.


Round 1: N R S R H A F E E

I had FANS, SHEAF, FRESHER, and FRESHEN.

Seven is the best to be done, with the others being REFRESH, SHEARER / HEARERS, EARNERS, and FEARERS.

My selection: FRESHER


Round 2: U A R A B O L T P

I had AURA, ORAL, PORTAL / PATROL, RUBATO ("the technique of varying the tempo within a bar of music without either lengthening or shortening the bar"), and TABULAR.

The other seven is ABLATOR.

My selection: TABULAR


Round 3: Target 535 from 50 25 10 3 6 9

I wanted to make this as 525 + 10, and was a little fixated on 7*75 = 525.  That would require making a 7 from 3, 6, 9, and in my haste I could not see such a way (but seen while writing this up is 535 = (9 - 6/3)*(50 + 25) + 10).  Instead I adjusted that to be 21*25, and that was much more promising since all the remaining small numbers were also divisible by 3.  A little more playing around produced the solution 535 = (9*3 - 6)*25 + 10.  Then I took a mental step back and considered that my normal approach would have been to attempt to get close first with 10*50, and a tweak resolved the rest: 535 = (50 + (3 + 6)/9)*10 + 25.

One thing which I did not think about until afterwards was that with two large numbers there is a good degree of flexibility in how to approach making the 525.  For instance, it could have been 50*10 + 25 (difficult without using up the 10) or 50*11 - 25, leading to the solution 535 = (9 + 6/3)*50 - 25 + 10.  Or a composite approach like 535 = 9*25 + 6*50 + 10.

My selection: 535 = (9*3 - 6)*25 + 10


Round 4: I T M H B E A N D

I had TIME, AMBIT, BATHED, and HABITED.  After time I noted ANTHEM as another six, and another seven of HEMATIN (HEMATIN being a variant spelling of HAEMATIN: "a pigment containing iron [...]").

The other sevens are AMBIENT and MEDIANT.

My selection: HABITED


Round 5: G D O F N T C O O

I had DONG (I was thinking of the Vietnamese unit of currency, but that sense is not listed; fortunately others are, including the verb sense of "(of a bell, etc.) to ring"), FOOT, noted that a final A instead of that third O would have allowed OCTAGON, and CODON / CONDO.

The other fives are TONDO ("a circular work of art, as a painting, relief, carving, etc.") and COGON (a type of grass) / CONGO (variant spelling of CONGOU: "a kind of black tea from China").

My selection: CODON


Round 6: Target 433 from 50 75 10 3 1 7

Applying the standard method got me an early solution of 433 = 50*10 - 75 + 7 + 1.  Then I considered that the target could be either 10*43 + 3 or 10*44 - 7, and the former was the easier to use: 433 = (50 - 7)*10 + 3.  My very first thought at the start had been to use 7*75, but 525 seemed rather far from the target and so I dismissed that.  I returned to considering it after those two solutions, and realised that the offset was 92, which was near 7*13, and found one more solution as a result: 433 = (75 - 10 - 3)*7 - 1.

My selection: 433 = (50 - 7)*10 + 3


Round 7: E T L E T N I U M

I had a dubious LEET (thinking of it in the L33T sense, which is not listed, but there is an obsolete meaning given: "a special type of manorial court or its jurisdiction"), TENT, TENET, and NETTLE.  This mix was near a couple of chemical elements (LUTETIUM and SELENIUM), but not quite compatible.  After time I noted MINUTE and ELUENT as other sixes.

There are two sevens available here: ENTITLE and LUNETTE ("any of various objects or spaces of crescent-like or semicircular outline or section").

My selection: NETTLE
Best: ENTITLE


Round 8: Target 418 from 75 25 10 8 2 4

With all those small numbers being even the option of 400 + 18 was far more attractive than 425 - 7.  I started with 418 = 4*(75 + 25) + 10 + 8, then played around with some other options to emerge with 418 = (8*25 + 4)*2 + 10.

My selection: 418 = 4*(75 + 25) + 10 + 8


Round 9: GRAB POINT

The -ING fragment is always worth considering when it is present, and it brought dividends here in the shape of PROBATING.

My selection: PROBATING (3.1s)