NG 434

New game 434 is now available.


Round 1: U I E S B N I T C

I had BINS, BUNTS, INSECT, and INCITES.

The other sevens are BISCUIT, CUISINE, UNITIES / UNITISE ("to make into one unit"), and STIBINE ("antimonous hydride [...]").  But there is an eight: CUTINISE ("to make into cutin", where CUTIN is "a transparent waxy substance constituting together with cellulose the cuticle of plants").

My selection: INCITES
Best: CUTINISE


Round 2: D O A H E S A R R

I had HEAD, SHADE, HOARDS, amused myself with HARRODS, SHARED, recalled that DROSERA was not valid, and noted that an I instead of the S would have allowed the infamous "I've got DIARRHOEA" line from the Countdown Gotcha episode.  After time I soon saw options I had missed, started with what should have been an obvious adjustment of HOARDS to HOARDERS.  I also remembered that ADORERS is the safe anagram of DROSERA, and of course HOARDER is another seven.

The remaining seven is HOARSER.

My selection: HOARDS
Best: HOARDERS


Round 3: Target 498 from 25 8 5 8 3 10

I first thought to make this target as 20*25 - 2, but did not see a good way to do it.  (Seen just now is the option 498 = (5 - 3)*(10*25 - 8/8).)  Instead I aimed for 10*49 + 8 and thus the solution 498 = (25 + 3*8)*10 + 8.

My selection: 498 = (25 + 3*8)*10 + 8


Round 4: E R Q E T U D N G

I had TREE, QUEER, TURNED, and GRUNTED.  I also wondered about QUERNED, but later checking only lists a noun sense of QUERN ("a hand mill for grinding corn").

The other sevens are DENTURE / TENURED / RETUNED.

My selection: GRUNTED


Round 5: T A E P C F W O A

I had TAPE, FACET, and COWPEA.

Six looks like the best to be done; the others are TOECAP / CAPOTE and COWPAT.

My selection: COWPEA


Round 6: Target 554 from 100 25 7 5 2 10

Getting to 500 is easy, and 550 not much more challenging.  The final 4 needs a little work, but a tweak comes to the rescue: 554 = 5*100 + 2*(25 + 7) - 10.  After time I considered working up from 7*75 and found the alternative solution 554 = 7*(100 - 25 + 2) + 10 + 5.

My selection: 554 = 5*100 + 2*(25 + 7) - 10


Round 7: T H I F O T L O O

I had LIFT and FOLIO, and wished one of those T's had been a D for FOOTHOLD.

There are two sevens here: HOTFOOT and OTOLITH ("a calcareous concretion in the internal ear of vertebrates and in the balancing organ of some invertebrates").  There are no sixes.

My selection: FOLIO
Best: HOTFOOT


Round 8: Target 775 from 100 50 7 9 7 4

I fooled around unsuccessfully with working up from 700 (it was good enough to get one off, but not to reach the target exactly).  While looking at ways to get to 800 I realised that I could make a 25 as 100/4, and so fortunately found a solution of 775 = (9 + 7)*50 - 100/4.

My selection: 775 = (9 + 7)*50 - 100/4


Round 9: CHALK COST

I got hung up on LOCK and CLOCK fragments, and did not see my way through to the answer of SACKCLOTH.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: SACKCLOTH