NG 339

New game 339 is now available.


Round 1: R S E L O F I A K

I had ROLES, wondered about FOILERS (not valid), FLARES, SERIAL, and FLAKIER.  Just after time I spotted FORESAIL for eight, and the possible FOLKSIER which turns out not to be listed (although FOLKSY is).

FORESAIL looks like the only eight; the other sevens are LOAFERS / SAFROLE (a certain chemical), FORSAKE, OARLIKE, FOLKIES (FOLKIE: "someone who likes or performs folk music"), and FLAKERS (colloquial for "unconscious; dead drunk").

My selection: FLAKIER
Best: FORESAIL


Round 2: I R E E U N H G D

I had RUIN, URINE, HEEDING, and rightly rejected REHINGED.  After time I noted NEIGHED as another seven.

I made a careless oversight here, as I had kept coming back to HUNGRIED (which is clearly not valid) but somehow overlooked the eight of HUNGERED.  That is the only eight; the other sevens are HERDING, INHERED, and REIGNED / REEDING (REED as a verb: "to decorate with reed").

My selection: HEEDING
Best: HUNGERED


Round 3: Target 773 from 100 2 7 6 7 8

The target is 27 away from 800, and with a little work turned that into a solution of 773 = 8*100 - 2*7 - 7 - 6.  (Seen now is that 27 is 48 - 21, leading to another solution of 773 = 8*(100 - 6) + 2*7 + 7.)  Then I looked at working up from 700, and noted that 7*107 left me 24 away from the target.  24 is a very attractive number to form, since it is divisible by all the remaining small numbers.  It still took a little work, but the resulting new solution was 773 = 7*(100 + 7) + 8*6/2.

My selection: 773 = 8*100 - 2*7 - 7 - 6


Round 4: T A S M E S I F O

I had MAST, TEAMS, STEAMS, noted MATISSE in passing, and FOAMIEST.

The other eights are SEMISOFT and ATOMISES.

My selection: FOAMIEST


Round 5: C E C O I S T P A

I had ICES, STOIC, POETIC, POETICS ("literary criticism dealing with the nature and laws of poetry"), and PACIEST.  I noted that a C instead of the S would have allowed COPACETIC (which I mentioned back in NG 259) and briefly wondered if COPASETIC might be a variant spelling, but I rejected it.  After time I noted TOECAPS / CAPOTES as other sevens.

Alas, it turns out that COPASETIC is indeed a variant form of COPACETIC, so a risk here would have brought good reward.  The eights are ECTOPIAS (ECTOPIA: "the morbid displacement of a bodily organ or part") and SPICCATO (a musical direction).

The other sevens are ECTOPIA, ECTOPIC, ACCEPTS, OPIATES, ICECAPS / IPECACS (IPECAC being a short form of IPECACUANHA, a type of plant), SCEPTIC, ASCETIC, and ASEPTIC / SPICATE ("(of a plant) having spikes").

My selection: PACIEST
Best: COPASETIC


Round 6: Target 950 from 25 50 7 4 2 3

The most tempting approach here was to make the target as 19*50, and it seemed that 19 should surely be makeable from the remaining numbers.  I started with 950 = (3*4 + 7)*50, then a little later found the alternative of 950 = (25 - 2*3)*50.

My selection: 950 = (3*4 + 7)*50


Round 7: T D C A N O W C O

I had CANT, CANTO, and CODON / CONDO.  The only vaguely plausible longer word seemed DOWNCOAT, but it was not remotely plausible.

Five does seems to be the best to be done, with the others being COCOA, OCTAD ("a group or series of eight"), COTAN (short for the trigonometric operation of cotangent) / OCTAN ("recurring every eighth day"), ADOWN (apparently it simple means "down"), and TONDO ("Art a circular work of art, as a painting, relief, carving, etc.").

My selection: CANTO


Round 8: Target 312 from 75 25 8 5 1 10

I found it hard to get started on this one, finding an offset of 12 difficult.  Rather late in the piece I saw the option of 6*52 and turned that into the solution 312 = (5 + 1)*(75 - 25 + 10 - 8).  After time I realised that 325 - 13 was probably a better option in this case, and since 325 is 13*25 that worked out to 312 = (25 - 1)*(8 + 5).  Rather later I saw the simpler option of 312 = 10*25 + 75 - 8 - 5.

My selection: 312 = (5 + 1)*(75 - 25 + 10 - 8)


Round 9: SCORN FOES

I was briefly distracted by the -NESS fragment, but then took a look at CON- and that led me to the answer of CONFESSOR.

My selection: CONFESSOR (4.6s)