NG 480

New game 480 is now available.


Round 1: A D O F E N R T H

I had DEAF, ANODE, FONDER, THORNED / THRONED / NORTHED (not valid; I was confused by knowing that NORTHING was valid ("progress in a northerly direction")), FRONTED, ANOTHER, and FOREHAND.

FOREHAND is the only eight; the other seven is FROTHED.

My selection: FOREHAND


Round 2: D O S O P L T A R

I had POOS, SPOOL, and PATROLS / PORTALS.

Those are the only sevens, and the best to be done.  (My word list gives POSTORAL, but it is not in the Macquarie.)

My selection: PORTALS


Round 3: Target 129 from 75 1 2 4 2 5

If that 75 were a 25, the standard method would clearly indicate making the target as 5*25 + 4.  Since both the 5 and 4 were available, I decided to pursue this method regardless, getting 129 = 5*75/(2 + 1) + 4.  Then I noted the more prosaic 129 = 2*75 - 4*5 - 1.

My selection: 129 = 5*75/(2 + 1) + 4


Round 4: S W T I U R A S L

I had WITS, WURST, WRITS, WRISTS, and AURISTS (ear-doctors).  I flirted briefly with the science fiction concept of WARSUITS, but rightly avoided it.

However, it should not have been too much of a stretch to go from that to the eight of LAWSUITS.  The other sevens are LAWSUIT and RITUALS.

My selection: AURISTS
Best: LAWSUITS


Round 5: N X E Z A L M E K

Gah, X, Z, and K all at once?  Bleah.  I had LANE and ENAMEL, briefly tempted by KEELMAN but rightly avoiding it (it turns out to be in the Scrabble list, though).

Six is the best to be done, which is hardly surprising under the circumstances.  The others are AXEMEN / EXAMEN ("Ecclesiastical an examination, as of conscience") and ALKENE.

My selection: ENAMEL


Round 6: Target 857 from 50 100 75 9 3 6

An offset of 7 was difficult, so I wrote down the fallback 856 = 9*100 - 50 + 6.  Then I realised that the offset of 18 was much more useful, ending up with 857 = 9*100 - 75 + 50 - 6*3.

My selection: 857 = 9*100 - 75 + 50 - 6*3


Round 7: S N E O M H E R I

I had NOSE, MESON, HOMES, HORSEMEN, and HEROINES.  A shame that HERMIONES isn't valid.

The other eights are EMERSION ("the act or fact or emerging; emergence") and NOSHERIE (variant spelling of NOSHERY, colloquial for a place to eat").  Neither SHIREMEN nor SHOREMEN is listed.  Some of the sevens are HEROISM, HEROINE, and MENHIRS.

My selection: HORSEMEN


Round 8: Target 762 from 50 100 10 9 8 7

My first thought was to get to 750 + 10, then make a 2 with the rest.  That meant I had to keep the 9 and 7, and so make 750 as 800 - 50 instead of 700 + 50.  The resulting solution was 762 = 8*100 - 50 + 10 + 9 - 7.  Then I realised that 62 was 9*8 - 10 and found the alternative of 762 = 7*100 + 9*8 - 10.

My selection: 762 = 7*100 + 9*8 - 10


Round 9: DIET FEAST

I perhaps skipped over this one too early, but I'm not sure I'd have solved it in any case.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: DEFEATIST