NG 472

New game 472 is now available.


Round 1: R E N D S C O S E

I had REND, RENDS, SCORNED, CROSSED, noted that a final U would have allowed CRUDENESS, SECONDERS, SECONDER, and SECONDES (SECONDE being a position in fencing).

The other eights are CENSORED / NECROSED, NECROSES, and ENDORSES.  I am a bit disappointed that the Macquarie does not list ENCODER(S), and more so that it does not give NECROSES as the plural form of NECROSIS.  Fortunately it has the verb NECROSE, so NECROSES still gets the nod.

My selection: SECONDERS


Round 2: M R H T A E S I O

I had HARM, EARTH, MASTER, and AMORTISE / ATOMISER.  I hope I'm not the only one who spotted AEROSMITH in this mix; a shame it can't count.

There's many sevens here (unsurprisingly); the other eights are HOARIEST and ISOTHERM ("a line connecting points on the earth's surface which have the same (mean) temperature").

My selection: AMORTISE


Round 3: Target 911 from 100 50 75 25 1 6

A 1 in the small numbers is often a bad sign.  Here it has some potential, since it seems clear that one would like to make this as 6*152 - 1, or 12*76 - 1.  Unfortunately, making either of those cofactors needs the 1, leading to a one-off result; I went with 912 = (100/50)*6*(75 + 1).

It turns out that the target is unreachable, and one off (with 912) is the best one can do.

My selection: 912 = (100/50)*6*(75 + 1)  [1 off]


Round 4: N T E A E I P T S

I had NEAT, ENATE ("relating to that which grows outward"), PATINE (variant spelling of PATEN: "the plate on which the bread is placed in the celebration of the Eucharist"), PATIENT, PATIENTS, and SAPIENT.

The other eight is the mineral STANNITE.  Again, there are many sevens.

My selection: PATIENTS


Round 5: R C E U O M B V C

I had CURE / ECRU, COMER, COMBER, COVER, CURVE, UMBER, and OCCUR.

The other six is CUMBER ("to hinder; hamper").

My selection: COMBER


Round 6: Target 490 from 50 75 3 3 5 8

I started with 8*50, added the 75, and then the final 15 to get 490 = 8*50 + 75 + 3*5.  Then I considered the various factorisations; 7*70 led to 490 = (8 - 3/3)*(75 - 5), and 5*98 eventually led to 490 = (50 + 8*(3 + 3))*5.

My selection: 490 = (8 - 3/3)*(75 - 5)


Round 7: A L O G E T P N T

I had GOAL, GLOAT, TANGELO, was too unsure about PLOTTAGE (not valid, as it turns out), and POTTAGE.

Seven is the best to be done; the others are POLENTA, the old favourite PALETOT ("a loose outer garment or coat"), and GANTLET (variant form of GAUNTLET).

My selection: TANGELO


Round 8: Target 832 from 25 100 2 7 2 9

The offset from 900 is 68, which will clearly lead to one away with some tweaking (since 67 = 9*7 + 2*2).  But a further adjustment to that idea gave 68 = 25 + 9*(7 - 2) - 2, and thus a solution 832 = 9*(100 - 7 + 2) - 25 + 2.  Whew!  Then I considered the factorisation 8*104, which is also 16*52.  I went with the latter to get 832 = (100/2 + 2)*(9 + 7).  Finally I realised that the target was 825 + 7, so the standard method was clearly tempting.  I somehow overlooked the simple 832 = (9 + 2)*(100 - 25) + 7 and instead found 832 = (9 - 2/2)*100 + 25 + 7.

My selection: 832 = (100/2 + 2)*(9 + 7)


Round 9: HARD SEEDS

Once I looked at what was left over without HEAD, the answer was clear.

My selection: HEADDRESS (5.3s)