NG 474

New game 474 is now available.


Round 1: R C A O T E R S I

I had ORCA, ACTOR, CREATOR / REACTOR, and CREATORS / REACTORS.  For a moment I thought that OSTRACISE would be there, but that duplicates the S instead of the R.

The other eight is ERRATICS (ERRATIC as a noun: "an erratic or eccentric person").  ROTARY is only listed as an adjective (although there are several compound nouns given whose first word is ROTARY), so ROTARIES is not acceptable.  There are many sevens.

There is almost a nine here, and really should be.  The Macquarie does list ORATRIX as a feminine form of ORATOR, but fails to give the explicit plural form of ORATRICES.  A shame.

My selection: REACTORS


Round 2: W Q T M A O A E R

I had MOAT, TAMER, WATER, and TOWER.  I flirted with WAR- words (WARTEAM / WARMATE) but nothing worked.  (WARTIME is what I was dimly trying to remember, but there is no I available.)

There are sixes to be had: AORTAE, OMERTA ("the code of silence adhered to by members of the Mafia"), and WOMERA (variant spelling of WOOMERA: "a type of throwing stick with a notch at one end for holding a dart or spear, thus giving increased leverage in throwing, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people").

My selection: WATER
Best: AORTAE


Round 3: Target 948 from 75 8 6 10 5 2

The target is 12*75 + 12*4; I made a little more work out of this observation than perhaps was necessary, but ended up with 948 = (75 + 8*5/10)*6*2.  Then I noticed that 6*8 is 48, which leads to much simpler options; I went with the tweak of 948 = (2*75 + 8)*6.

My selection: 948 = (2*75 + 8)*6


Round 4: E D S G T E Y E H

I had GETS, EDGES, EGESTED (EGEST: "to discharge, as from the body; void (opposed to ingest)"), HEDGES, and SEETHED / SHEETED.

That's all the sevens listed, and the best to be done.

My selection: SEETHED


Round 5: D U H M N O B O E

I had HOUND, BOOMED, an uncertain HOMEBOUND (not valid), an even less certain UNHOMED (not valid), and NUMBED.  I vacillated a little, but decided to chance HOMEBOUND.  No joy in this instance.

I will note that HOMEBOUND is in the Scrabble list that I use, so that's two potential full monties today foiled by the Macquarie.  Aside from that, six is the best to be done, with the others being UNHOOD, MOONED, HOONED, and HODMEN (plural of HODMAN: "a bricklayer's assistant).

My selection: [invalid -- HOMEBOUND]
Best: BOOMED


Round 6: Target 895 from 25 75 3 4 1 7

One would like to keep back the 4 and 1 to make the final offset of 5, but it seems difficult to get to 900 with the rest.  I decided to get close with 3*4*75 = 900, and then realised that the 5 could also be made as 12 - 7.  The resulting tweaked solution is 895 = 3*4*(75 - 1) + 7.

There are two other solutions; one uses the factorisation 5*179, where 179 is 200 - 3*7; a tweak makes it work: 895 = (3*(75 - 7) - 25)*(4 + 1).  The remaining solution is 895 = (4*75 + 7)*3 - 25 - 1.

My selection: 895 = 3*4*(75 - 1) + 7


Round 7: S I R N T L A U C

I had TINS, SAINT, TRAINS, CURTAINS, and CURTAILS.  An O instead of that U would have allowed CONTRAILS.

For the third time there's a nine that is not in the Macquarie: According to Chambers, LINCRUSTA is "a thick, embossed type of wallpaper".  The other eights are LUNATICS / SULTANIC and CISLUNAR ("of or relating to the region between the moon and the earth").

My selection: CURTAINS


Round 8: Target 912 from 100 25 50 5 4 5

Another target around the 900 mark, but this time 12*75 does not seem on the cards.  A shame, as the answer is 12*76.  I flailed around for a while, but in the end had to stay with the one off answer of 913 = (5 + 4)*(100 + 50/25) - 5.

It turns out that the target is unreachable, and one off is the best to be done.  The above is the only way to get to 913, and there's also a unique way to get to 911 with 911 = (100 + 4)*(50 - 5)/5 - 25.

My selection: 913 = (5 + 4)*(100 + 50/25) - 5  [1 off]


Round 9: MUM'S TONIC

Doubled consonants often go together, and in this case the COMM- fragment was useful.

My selection: COMMUNIST (2.4s)