NG 429

New game 429 is now available.


Round 1: C O A B E N R S U

I had BACON, BEACON, BACONER, BACONERS, CAROUSE, OBSCURE, and CARBONS.  After time I noted BEACONS as yet another seven.

The other eights are BOUNCERS (not sure how I missed that), UNBRACES, and NACREOUS ("iridescent").

My selection: BACONERS


Round 2: E S A U P M I H S

I had PAUSE, wondered about MISSHAPE (valid), an unsure HASSIUM (element number 108; I was uncertain because I was not sure when the name had been settled on, but that turns out to have been in 1997 and the Macquarie does list it), wondered about SEASHIP (not valid), PHASES, HUMPIES (HUMPY: "a temporary bush shelter traditionally used by Aboriginal people"), IMPASSE, and EMPHASIS.

MISSHAPE / EMPHASIS are the only eights.  The other sevens are MISHAPS, MASHIES (MASHIE being a type of golf club), and APHESIS ("(in historical linguistic process) the gradual disappearance of  an unstressed initial vowel or syllable, as in mend from amend").  SMASH-UP is listed but only with the hyphen, and MESSIAH is only listed with a capital letter.

My selection: EMPHASIS


Round 3: Target 820 from 25 50 100 8 9 1

Getting near is easy, and I went straight to 820 = 8*100 + (9 + 1)*50/25.  Seen while writing this up is another option of 820 = 8*100 + 25 - 50/(9 + 1).

My selection: 820 = 8*100 + (9 + 1)*50/25


Round 4: O W E R S F K I C

I had WORE, SWORE, wondered if FROWSY (variant spelling of FROWZY) backformed to FROWSE (it does not), FIRES, FROCKS, wondered about ROCKIES (not valid since ROCKIE is only listed as capitalised: "Colloquial a mmber of the Royal Australian Naval Reserve"), and a speculative ICEWORKS.  Just after time I saw WICKERS for seven.

I decided to chance ICEWORKS and that was fortunately the right choice.  I'm not sure I'd have risked it if I'd seen WICKERS within time, though.  In any case, ICEWORKS is the only eight and the other seven is COWRIES.

My selection: ICEWORKS


Round 5: N E O E I S R G T

I had NOISE, NOSIER, REGIONS, ORIENTS, SORTING / STORING, INTEGERS, GENITORS (GENITOR: "a father in the biological sense, sometimes distinguished from a legal or acting father"), and ESTROGEN.

The Macquarie does not have a verb sense of STEREO, so STEREOING is not valid (although it turned up on the word finder I used).  The other eights are STEERING, EGESTION ("the process of egesting; the voiding of the waste of digestion"), SEROTINE (a type of bat), and ERINGOES (ERINGO being a variant spelling of ERYNGO, a type of herb).  There is also the possibility of GENTRIES*, whose validity I am still undecided about (but again, was presented by the word finder).

My selection: INTEGERS


Round 6: Target 426 from 1 5 2 6 4 3

The small numbers were all pretty small, but fortunately the target was friendly for them.  The target is 6*71, and making 71 with the remaining values was not too onerous; I decided to go with a version that used the numbers in order: 426 = (1 + 2*(3 + 4)*5)*6.  Then I considered using the approach I have advocated before with only small numbers, of dividing by the largest of them and seeing how that goes.  In this case the first step gives 6*71, the 71 is 5*14 + 1, the 14 is 4*3 + 2, and it all just works: 426 = (1 + (2 + 3*4)*5)*6.  An unusually good representative for the method!

My selection: 426 = (1 + (2 + 3*4)*5)*6


Round 7: C A B R T E N E I

I had CRAB, BRACT ("a specialised leaf or leaf-like part, usually situated at the base of a flower or inflorescence"), TRANCE, CREATE, CABINET, and CREATINE (a certain amino acid).  I also saw CABERNET but recalled from past checking that it is only listed as part of phrases, and does not trigger any of the exceptions in the revised rules.  After time I noted other sevens of CERTAIN and BETAINE.

The othe eights are INCREATE ("existing without having been created") / ITERANCE (iteration) and BACTERIN ("a vaccine prepared from dead or attenuated bacteria").

My selection: CREATINE


Round 8: Target 807 from 50 75 100 25 2 6

Getting to one away with a small tweak was the best I could do: 808 = (100 + 75/(50 + 25))*(6 + 2).  A little after time I noted a more roundabout route to the same value that saved a number: 808 = (50*100 - 2)/6 = 25.

The target is 3*269, which is to say 3*(275 - 6).  Alas, that combination cannot quite be made with the given numbers.

As it turns out, the target is unreachable and one off is the best to be done.

My selection: 808 = (100 + 75/(50 + 25))*(6 + 2)  [1 off]


Round 9: DWARF TEAR

I had a small digression with WATER, then looked at -WARD and found the answer of AFTERWARD.

My selection: AFTERWARD (4.0s)