NG 368

New game 368 is now available.


Round 1; R A P R B S E E E

I had SPAR, BARRES (BARRE: "a rail fixed at approximately hip height along a wall, used for balance in ballet practice"), BEEPERS, and an uncertain SPEARER (valid).

The other sevens are BEARERS and REAPERS (the safer anagram of SPEARER).

My selection: BEEPERS


Round 2: T H O R A T A I P

I had ROTA, THROAT, THORIA (an oxide of thorium), and PARIAH.

Those are all the sixes, but there are two sevens: PATRIOT and PARTITA ("Music an instrumental suite").  Scrabble would apparently allow the eight of ATROPHIA (meaning "atrophy"), but it's not in the Macquarie.

My selection: THROAT
Best: PATRIOT


Round 3: Target 137 from 100 25 75 6 3 5

The offsets for the standard method are 12 and 13, and the former is usually easier.  It was in this case, and the resulting solution was 137 = 100 + 25 + 6*(5 - 3).

My selection: 137 = 100 + 25 + 6*(5 - 3)


Round 4: E I T X F R E C C

I had EXIT, FIRE, REFIT, FIERCE, wanted a final N for FRENETIC but was disappointed, and RECITE.

The seven in this mix is EXCITER.  The other six is TIERCE ("Fencing the third of eight defensive positions", as well as several other definitions all relating in some way to the concept of "third").

My selection: FIERCE
Best: EXCITER


Round 5: G I S V F W I A E

I had an uncertain VIGS (the Macquarie lists very few words of Yiddish origin, and it does not list this one), FIGS, SWIG, WAIFS, VISAGE, and WAIVES.

Six is the best on offer here; the other is VIGIAS (VIGIA: "Nautical a mark on a navigational chart indicating a hazard or supposed hazard, the precise location and nature of which is uncertain").

My selection: VISAGE


Round 6: Target 205 from 25 75 4 6 9 2

I set aside the 9 and 4 to make the offset of 5, and was a little slow to make 200 from the rest but got there with 205 = 2*(75 + 25) + 9 - 4.  Then I considered the factorisation 5*41 and saw that I could make that work with a different route to the 5, getting 205 = (75 - 25 - 9)*(6 + 4)/2.

My selection: 205 = 2*(75 + 25) + 9 - 4


Round 7: A E O N D Z C D S

I had AEON, ANODE, DOZEN, ACNODE ("Geometry a node [...] at which the tangents to two curves are imaginary and distinct"), ACNODES, SECOND, and DEACONS.

ACNODES / DEACONS are the only sevens, and the best to be done.

My selection: DEACONS


Round 8: Target 701 from 50 100 10 1 5 9

After the numbers went up I was a bit worried -- lots of common factors and missing useful intermediate small numbers.  But the target was helpfully only a provided 1 away from a multiple of 100, and a solution emerged of 701 = (9 + 5)*50 + 1.  I played around with some other ideas, and found an alternative of 701 = 5*(100 + 50 - 10) + 1.

My selection: 701 = (9 + 5)*50 + 1


Round 9: RACKET ERA

A perhaps-unusual case of the C and K not going together; fortunately I had focused on the TAKE fragment early and so found CARETAKER in good time.

My selection: CARETAKER (1.8s)