NG 469

New game 469 is now available.


Round 1: L E G O O A S M N

I had OGLE, OGLES, and MANGLES.  After time I noted MANGOES as another seven.

The other sevens are LAGOONS, MANGELS (MANGEL being an acceptable variant of MANGEL-WURZEL, a variety of beet), MELANOS (MELANO: "an animal characterised by an abnormal development of black pigment in the epidermis, hair, feathers, etc."), and MONGOLS (MONGOL being listed with a lowercase form in the sense of "someone who has Down syndrome").

My selection: MANGLES


Round 2: R W B E O T I I R

I had ROBE, BOWER, ORBIT, and ORBITER.  After time I noted WIRIER as a six.

The other sevens are RIBWORT (a type of plantain) and BORTIER* (BORTY being an adjective derived from BORT: "flawed, low quality diamonds, and diamond fragments, valuable only for crushing to diamond dust").

My slection: ORBITER


Round 3: Target 447 from 75 100 50 9 6 6

After putting aside 9 and 6 to make the offset of 3, the rest is easy enough: 447 = 6*75 - (9 - 6).

My selection: 447 = 6*75 - (9 - 6)


Round 4: O D E T U T C G H

I had DOTE, OUTED, DOUGH, and TOUGHED*.  I was pretty sure that this would not be legal under the show's rules (and later checking confirms that), but the phrase 'touch it out' makes it legal under the revised rules.  After time (rather more after time than I would like) I saw TOUCHED as a safe seven, and noted TOUCHÉ and DOUCHE as sixes.

The other seven is COUGHED.  The word list I use suggests OUGHTED as another possibility, and I'm not sure about this.  It feels wrong, but a strict interpretation of the rules might allow it, since OUGHT is listed as a verb, albeit a "quasi-modal" one.

My selection: TOUGHED*
Best: TOUCHED (under old rules)


Round 5: N M A K T R F E I

I had TANK, TRANK, FRANK, MINARET / RAIMENT, and FIREMAN.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are FAINTER, KERATIN, RAMEKIN, RATFINK, and MANKIER*.

My selection: FIREMAN


Round 6: Target 628 from 100 8 2 4 1 7

I started by working my way down from 700 with 628 = 7*100 - (8 + 1)*2*4.  Then I used the factorisation 4*157 to get 628 = (100 + 8*7 + 1)*4, and finally a prosaic 628 = (8 - 2)*100 + 4*7.

My selection: 628 = (100 + 8*7 + 1)*4


Round 7: A L R E P D S I A

I had REAL, PARED, SPARED, PEDLARS, ASPIRED / PRAISED / DESPAIR / DIAPERS, AERIALS, noted that PLAIDER is technically legal due to the rule about comparatives, and SPIRALED.  After time I noted SPIRAEA (a type of herb) as another seven.

The other eights are PARADISE, SALARIED, PALISADE ("a fence of pales or stakes set firmly in the ground, as for enclosure or defence"), and PRAEDIAL ("of, relating to, or consisting of land or its products; real; landed").  This last only has adjective senses, so PRAEDIALS is not valid.

My selection: SPIRALED


Round 8: Target 857 from 75 50 7 4 8 10

Applying the standard method led to 857 = (8 + 4)*75 - 50 + 7.  Then I considered the alternative of 875 - 10 - 8 and found 857 = 7*(75 + 50) - 10 - 8.

My selection: 857 = 7*(75 + 50) - 10 - 8


Round 9: IN CONDUIT

I chose this conundrum after being presented with something similar but unusable (I forget what).

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