NG 479

New game 479 is now available.


Round 1: D R A E T U S L P

I had DEAR, TRADE, TRADES, PALTERS (PALTER: "to talk or act insincerely; equivocate; deal crookedly"), and DEPARTS.  I knew from previous experience that UPDATER was not listed, so UPDATERS was not an eight here.

There are eights, though, with the most obvious being an anagram of UPDATERS: PASTURED.  The other eights are PULSATED and PREADULT.  Unfortunately this latter is only listed as an adjective, so PREADULTS is not a nine here.  (It is legal in Scrabble, though.)

My selection: DEPARTS
Best: PASTURED


Round 2: R A N E T E I D T

I had NEAR, NEATER, RETAINED / DETAINER, and NITRATED.  I also rightly rejected RETAINTED, and noted that a second A instead of an E would have allowed ATTAINDER.  After time I noted ITERATED as another eight.

The other eights are RETINTED and NATTERED / ATTENDER.  But there is a nine!  It is INTREATED (INTREAT being an archaic variant of ENTREAT).

My selection: RETAINED
Best: INTREATED


Round 3: Target 638 from 25 9 4 10 1 4

I flailed around for a bit without much progress on this one, eventually getting to two off with 640 = (25 + 4*9 + 4 - 1)*10 and then one off with 639 = (25 - 4)*10*(4 - 1) + 9.

The key point to solving this one is to notice that the target is divisible by 11.  It is 11*58, which is also 22*29; given that observation I ended up finding the solution 638 = (4*(9 - 1) - 10)*(25 + 4).  There is only one other solution, the simpler 638 = (10 + 9 + 4 - 1)*(25 + 4).

My selection: 639 = (25 - 4)*10*(4 - 1) + 9  [1 off]
Best: 638 = (25 + 4)*(10 + 9 + 4 - 1)


Round 4: A G N E B S L V U

I had BANE, BEANS, BANGLES, figured (correctly) that SUBANGLE would not be listed, and ANGELUS ("Roman Catholic Church a devotion in memory of the Annunciation").

Seven is the best to be done; the others are NEBULAS, BELUGAS (BELUGA: "the white whale [...]"), BUNGLES / BLUNGES (BLUNGE: "Poetry to mix (clay or the like) with water, forming a liquid suspension"), and LANGUES (LANGUE: "Linguistics the abstract, underlying system of language possessed by all members of a speech community").

My selection: BANGLES


Round 5: H I E B C O T R D

I had ECHO, BITCH, EROTIC, CORDITE, BOTCHED, pondered but rightly rejected BRITCHED, BRIOCHE, and ORBITED.

There is an unexpected eight here: BOTCHIER.  The other sevens are TORCHED, BITCHED, BIRTHED, BIRCHED, BOTCHER, BIOTECH, CHOIRED, DEORBIT, DITCHER ("Bowls a bowl which goes into the ditch [...] having touched neither the jack nor any other bowl in play"), THEROID ("having animal propensities or characteristics"), and BICHORD (variant form of BICHORDAL: "of a musical instrument for each note of which there are two strings tuned to the same pitch, as the mandolin, lute, etc.").

My selection: CORDITE
Best: BOTCHIER


Round 6: Target 146 from 50 3 8 10 7 9

I started with a relatively straightforward 146 = 3*50 - 8/(9 - 7).  Then while playing around with alternatives I stumbled upon the nice 146 = 9*10 + 7*8.

My selection: 146 = 9*10 + 7*8


Round 7: R M U A O O C S D

I had AMOUR ("a love affair, especially a clandestine one"), CAROM, CAROMS, and ODOURS.  I'd also seen CRUSADO (Chambers: "an old Portuguese coin, so called because the reverse side was marked with a cross"), but knew the Macquarie did not have it.

The seven here is AMOROUS.

My selection: ODOURS
Best: AMOROUS


Round 8: Target 801 from 50 100 8 2 7 7

I went with the obvious 801 = 8*100 + 7/7 and left it at that.

My selection: 801 = 8*100 + 7/7


Round 9: RABBI ARMS

My mouse drifted off the answer button, so I lost half a second or so when trying to answer this.  Oh, well.

My selection: BARBARISM (3.4s)