NG 421

New game 421 is now available.


Round 1: W T O A M L I O T

I had ATOM, TOTAL, and was a little tempted by OMITTAL but rightly avoided it.  After time I finally saw TOMATO for six.

The other six is WITTOL ("a man who knows of and tolerates his wife's infidelity").

My selection: TOTAL
Best: TOMATO


Round 2: O E A H I B A T R

I had BATHE, BATHER, THORIA, and HETAIRA (variant spelling of HETAERA: "one of a class of cultivated courtesans in ancient Greece").

The other seven is AIRBOAT ("a flat-bottomed boat propelled by means of an engine-driven propeller mounted towards the stern and guided by rudders positioned in the propeller-generated airflow").

My selection: HETAIRA


Round 3: Target 880 from 25 75 50 100 3 6

It's clear that making 875 + 6 will suffice for one away, although it can take a little effort to make the 875 from the rest of the numbers.  I was trying for 900 - 20, but could not quite get it to work; instead, that approach got me to one away with 879 = 6*(100 + 50 - 3) - 75/25.

I was almost on the right track; I wanted to make the 20 as 6*3 + 50/25, and I was looking for a way to use the technique of dividing a compound expression by 25.  But I did not find my way to what turns out to be the only solution (ably found by Sam): 880 = ((3*100 - 6)*75 - 50)/25.

My selection: 879 = 6*(100 + 50 - 3) - 75/25
Best: 880 = ((3*100 - 6)*75 - 50)/25


Round 4: U I O D S A C R N

I had DUOS, ADIOS, CARIOUS, RANCID, DINOSAUR, and SAURIAN (invalid, of course, since it uses two A's).  Fortunately I had better to declare.

The other eights are SARDONIC and CANDOURS.  The other sevens are CANDOUR, INROADS / ORDAINS, CANDORS / DACRONS (DACRON: "a strong synthetic polyester fibre resistant to creases"), DURIANS, DURIONS (DURION being a variant spelling of DURIAN), CURIOSA ("books, pamphlets, etc., dealing with unusual subjects, especially pornographic ones [...]"), and ACINOUS ("consisting of acini", where 'acini' means berries or similar).

My selection: DINOSAUR


Round 5: M N R E D N B U I

I had REND, NUMBER, and IMBRUED (IMBRUE: "to stain with blood").

The other sevens are BIRDMEN, UNMINED / MINUEND ("(in mathematics) the number from which another (the subtrahend) is to be subtracted"), and INURNED (INURN: "to put into an urn, especially a funeral urn").

My selection: IMBRUED


Round 6: Target 856 from 50 25 9 8 1 1

The factorisation 8*107 is clear, but again I was not able to use it.  Instead I flailed around to get to one off with 857 = (9 + 8)*(50 - 1) + 25 - 1.

Once again, there is a unique solution.  Irritatingly, I had only just missed the right approach, as I had considered starting with 50*(1 + 1) on the way to 107, but decided it did not look promising.  An appropriate tweak sorts it out, though: 856 = ((50 - 9)*(1 + 1) + 25)*8.

My selection: 857 = (9 + 8)*(50 - 1) + 25 - 1  [1 off]
Best: 856 = ((50 - 9)*(1 + 1) + 25)*8


Round 7: O I S D I N T L A

I had DINS, DINTS, LADINOS, and DILATIONS.  Huzzah for a full monty!

The eight is DILATION.  The other sevens are LIAISON, DALTONS (DALTON being another term for an atomic mass unit), DISTAIN ("to discolour; stain; sully"), TALIONS (TALION: "retaliation as authorised by law [...]") / LATIONS (LATION being a shortening of "relation", apparently, in Aboriginal English), and SIALOID ("resembling saliva").

My selection: DILATIONS


Round 8: Target 830 from 50 6 2 10 4 1

The factorisation 10*83 is clear, and I found a couple of ways to make that work: 830 = (2*(50 - 6) - 4 - 1)*10 and 830 = (50 + (6 + 2)*4 + 1)*10.

My selection: 830 = (2*(50 - 6) - 4 - 1)*10


Round 9: DELL RIVER

It took me a bit longer than I would have liked to get DRIVELLER from this, but I got there.

My selection: DRIVELLER (9.5s)