NG 409

New game 409 is now available.


Round 1: S E C I G O A R T

I had ICES, CAGES, TRIAGES, and -- fortunately reminded of it again only a week ago in NG 404 -- AGRESTIC ("rural; rustic").

The other eights are ESCARGOT and ORGASTIC.  There are more sevens than I feel like listing.

My selection: AGRESTIC


Round 2: E C O S T O R C E

I had COTES, SCOOTER, and COERCES.

Those seem to be the only seven, but there is an eight: CREOSOTE.

My selection: SCOOTER
Best: CREOSOTE


Round 3: Target 233 from 25 50 8 5 2 3

I tweaked my way down from 250 with 233 = 5*(50 - 3) - 2, although perhaps 233 = 5*50 - 25 + 8 would have been simpler.

My selection: 233 = 5*(50 - 3) - 2


Round 4: E B A O N E R S T

I had BEAN, REASON, TREASON / SENATOR, and BARONETS.  After time I noted RESONATE as another eight.

The other eights are ABSENTER and SEABORNE.  EAR STONE is listed, but only as two words.

My selection: BARONETS


Round 5: O M C N E O R W I

I had COME, CROON, was unsure about MOONIER (valid, as it turns out), and MORONIC / OMICRON.

The remaining seven is INCOMER.

My selection: MORONIC


Round 6: Target 554 from 25 8 10 9 5 4

The standard method suggests making this as 22*25 + 4, and the 22 turns out to be easy enough: 554 = (9 + 8 + 5)*25 + .

My selection: 554 = (9 + 8 + 5)*25 + 4


Round 7: D L U S M I U G T

I had SLUM, GUILDS, and GUILTS.

The seven here is MIDGUTS.  The other sixes are MIDGUT, LITMUS, and TUMULI (one plural form of TUMULUS: "a mound or elevation of earth, etc., especially of artificial origin and more or less antiquity").

My selection: GUILDS
Best: MIDGUTS


Round 8: Target 129 from 10 9 7 1 1 9

My first though was to make this as 130 - 1, but getting a 13 was difficult.  Instead I made it as 119 + 10, via 129 = (9 + 9 - 1)*7 + 10.  Switching tacks to 120 + 9 was also rewarding, although I had to find the right factorisation: 129 = (10 + 9 + 1)*(7 - 1) + 9.  Finally, I tried 128 + 1 and got that to work with 129 = (9 + 7)*(9 - 1) + 1.

My selection: 129 = (9 + 9 - 1)*7 + 10


Round 9: RAIL BUTTY

I chose this conundrum after being presented with the unusable TRIBUALLY.

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