NG 426

New game 426 is now available.


Round 1: P T U N W I R I G

I had PUNT, a speculative UPTOWN but no O arrived, TURNIP, and WRITING.

The other seven is WINGTIP.

My selection: WRITING


Round 2: A M O D T O C N M

I had ATOM, CONDOM, and COMMAND.

COMMAND is the only seven, but I somehow overlooked the only eight of COMMANDO.  The other six is COMMON.

My selection: COMMAND
Best: COMMANDO


Round 3: Target 810 from 75 5 1 5 1 3

Starting from 11*75 seemed tempting, but the 11 uses up too many useful numbers.  Working instead with the factorisation 10*81 I was pleased to get that to work: 810 = (75 + 5 + 1)*5*(3 - 1).

There is only one other solution: 810 = (75 + 3*(1 + 1))*(5 + 5).

My selection: 810 = (75 + 5 + 1)*5*(3 - 1)


Round 4: T H A E P D F U C

I had HEAT, wondered about PATHED (not valid), UPDATE, and PATCHED.

PATCHED is the only seven; there is almost an eight, but the Macquarie only lists DEATH CUP (a fungus perhaps better known as a DEATH CAP) as two words.  The other sixes are TEACUP, FAUCET, CHAFED, DETACH, HEPCAT, HEPTAD, and HAFTED.

My selectin: PATCHED


Round 5: R F E E L M R A I

I had FREE, FERREL (variant spelling of FERRULE, although I was not certain about it's validity prior to looking it up), FLAME, FLAMER, MEALIER, FRAILER, and knew from previous checking that neither EMAILER nor REMAILER were valid.

Seven does seem to be the limit; the others are EARLIER / LEARIER*, FIREARM, REFRAME, LEAFIER, and FLAMIER*.

My selection: MEALIER


Round 6: Target 938 from 25 6 7 4 10 1

The multipliers of 25 for the standard method are 37 or 38, and the latter sufficed for one away with 938 = 25*(6*7 - 4) - 10 - 1.  While considering other options I saw that the target was 980 - 6*7, and 980 is 7*140.  That got me to the factorisation 7*134, and with a bit more work to a solution of 938 = (6*(25 - 1) - 10)*7.

There's a few other solutions, but perhaps the simplest arises from the alternative factorisation 14*67: 938 = (25 + 6*7)*(10 + 4).

My selection: 938 = (6*(25 - 1) - 10)*7


Round 7: E D E A O Q S B L

I had SODA, EASED, LOADS, BLEEDS, rightly rejected DOSEABLE, and LEASED.

The sevens are ALBEDOS ("Astronomy the ratio of the light reflected by a planet or satellite to that received by it"), BEADLES (BEADLE: "Ecclesiastical a parish officer having various subordinate duties"), and ELODEAS (ELODEA being a type of waterweed).

My selection: BLEEDS
Best: ALBEDOS


Round 8: Target 418 from 75 1 2 6 5 8

The standard method suggests making this as 6*75 - 32, and a tweak gets that done in four numbers: 418 = (75 - 5)*6 - 2.  The ascent from 5*75 also works easily enough: 418 = (75 + 8 + 1)*5 - 2.  Still within time, I looked at the factorisation 2*209 and recognised that 209 is 11*19.  That led me to another solution of 418 = (6 + 5)*(75 + 1)/2.

My selection: 418 = (6 + 5)*(75 + 1)/2


Round 9: FOUND CUES

I was originally presented with UNFLEECED (not listed), and saw this conundrum while checking up on it.

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