NG 477

New game 477 is now available.


Round 1: M O D E T O R N Z

I had DOME, MOOTED, ROOMED, MODERN, MENTOR, and DOORMEN.

The other sevens are MOTORED and MORDENT ("a melodic embellishment consisting of a rapid alternation of a principle note with a supplementary note a semitone below it [...]").

My selection: DOORMEN


Round 2: B N X T I S R E O

I had BINT, BINTS, ORIENTS, INBOXES, BOXIEST*, and BORNITES (BORNITE being a mineral).

BORNITES appears to be the only eight (RIBSTONE is only listed as part of the term RIBSTONE PIPPIN, a kind of apple).  The other sevens are BORNITE, STONIER, EBONIST ("a worked in ebony"), BONIEST, BONXIES (BONXIE being another term for a great skua, a type of bird), TOXINES (TOXINE being a variant spelling of TOXIN), SORBITE ("a steel microstructure consisting of ferrite and finely divided cementite, which is produced when martensite is tempered above 450° C") / ORBIEST*, and OREXINS (OREXIN: "one of a pair of hormones which are produced in the body when blood sugar levels drop, and which stimulate the desire to eat").

My selection: BORNITES


Round 3: Target 186 from 75 50 10 6 10 5

The offsets are 11 and 14, with the former at least being 6 + 5.  Getting to 175 was a little more taxing than I hoped -- I overlooked the simple 186 = 10*10 + 75 + 6 + 5 -- but I got there with a tweak via 186 = 5*(50 + 10/10) - 75 + 6.  Then I considered the factorisation 6*31 and found the alternative option of 186 = (75 - 50 + 5 + 10/10)*6.

My selection: 186 = 5*(50 + 10/10) - 75 + 6


Round 4: D R N E E E T A G

I had REND, ENDER, TENDER, REAGENT, GENERATED (full monty, woohoo!), and TEENAGER.  After time I noted RENEGADE as another eight.

The other eight is, of course, GENERATE.  There's quite a few sevens.

My selection: GENERATED


Round 5: A H A E W B A G S

I had WAGE, WAGES, ABASH, and AWASH.

There are two sixes in this mix: BASHAW (an obsolete term for "an important personage; bigwig") and SEABAG ("a bag, usually of canvas, closed at the top by a string, used by sailors and others for stowing kit").

My selection: WAGES
Best: BASHAW


Round 6: Target 979 from 10 4 8 9 5 4

My selection: 979 = (9 + 4)*(8*10 - 5) + 4


Round 7: F O N D I H U Q V

I had FOND, FOUND, and HOUND.

Five is the best to be done; the other is QUOIN ("an external solid angle of a wall or the like").

My selection: FOUND


Round 8: Target 576 from 100 25 50 5 9 6

Applying the standard method, I needed to make a 1 from 5, 9, and 50.  Fortunately that was feasible, leading to 576 = 6*100 - 25 + 50/5 - 9.  Then I looked at other tweaking possibilities, realising that 6*9 - 5 = 49 was a usable offset; that led to 576 = 6*(100 - 9) + 5 + 25.  Finally I used the factorisation 6*96 for the simpler 576 = 6*(100 - 9 + 5).

My selection: 576 = 6*(100 - 9 + 5)


Round 9: PINGS GURU

The ever-useful -ING fragment works here as well, although the word is perhaps a little unexpected.

My selection: UPSURGING (2.3s)