NG 430

New game 430 is now available.


Round 1: C O I E O F T R M

I had FOCI / COIF, CROFT, FORCE, MORTICE, and COMFORT.  After time I noted that an A instead of one of those O's would have allowed FORMICATE ("to swarm with moving beings, as ants").

The other potential seven is COMFIER*.

My selection: COMFORT


Round 2: L P B E L E E G U

I had PLEB, BELL, and BLEEP.  After time I noted BUGLE as another five.

Five does seem to be the limit; the others are BULGE, BELLE, and GLEBE ("Poetic soil; field").

My selection: BLEEP


Round 3: Target 830 from 75 50 2 8 5 6

I started by getting in the vicinity with 8*2*50, then observed that the final adjustment was easy: 830 = 8*2*50 + 5*6.  Then I saw that I could get to 825 first and still have a solution: 830 = (6 + 5)*75 + 50/(8 + 2).  Finally I realised that the factorisation 83*10 was rather simpler than all that, yielding 830 = (75 + 8)*2*5.

My selection: 830 = (75 + 8)*2*5


Round 4: R N E I E A S Y S

I had ERNE, RAIN, ANISE, ANISES, ARISES, SERIES, and SNARES.

The sevens are ESSAYER, SEINERS (a SEINE being a type of fishing net) / SEREINS (SEREIN: "a very fine rain falling from a clear sky after sunset") / SERINES (SERINE being a certain amino acid), and ARSINES (ARSINE: "any derivative of [arsenic tryhydride], in which one or more hydrogen atoms are replaced by organic radicals").

My selection: ARISES
Best: ESSAYER


Round 5: O S N U H M A A R

I had SHUN, HUMANS, and SHAMAN.  I'd also noticed HOURMAN, but of course that is not listed.

There is a seven here, though: OARSMAN.

My selection: SHAMAN
Best: OARSMAN


Round 6: Target 793 from 75 9 5 1 7 2

It perhaps should have been obvious to consider 800 - 7 to start with, but I got there by the long route.  I started with 75*10 and then made the remaining 43 as 5*10 - 7, tweaking to get the solution 793 = (75 + 5)*(9 + 1) - 7.

My selection: 793 = (75 + 5)*(9 + 1) - 7


Round 7: T H E N G A O C L

I had THEN, THONG, CHANGE, LOCATE, TANGELO, and wondered about HECTAGON (a hundred-sided polygon) but correctly assumed that the Macquarie would not list it.

The other eight potentially here is OCTANGLE, but the Macquarie does not list that eight (although it does have OCTANGULAR).  So seven is the best to be done, and the others are CONGEAL, HALOGEN, ETHANOL, COGNATE, LACTONE ("one of a class of internal esters derived from hydroxy acids"), and CHALONE ("an endocrine secretion which reduces physiological activity").

My selection: TANGELO


Round 8: Target 307 from 25 100 75 1 2 4

Getting to 300 poses little difficulty, and a tweak takes care of the rest: 307 = 4*(75 + 2) - 1.  Since one can get to 300 with those large numbers alone there's no need for tweaking: 307 = 100*75/25 + 4 + 2 + 1.

My selection: 307 = 4*(75 + 2) - 1


Round 9: DISCO MAPS

I perhaps dismissed this a bit too soon during my conundrum search, but I'm not sure I would have found SPASMODIC within time regardless.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: SPASMODIC