NG 484

New game 484 is now available.


Round 1: R E R S A N U O C

I had ERRS, SANER, REASON, RANCOUR, and RANCOURS.  Overall, I'm dubious about its validity, but for now I guess I'm claiming it.

The safe eight here is NACREOUS, and there do not appear to be any others.  I was a little surprised that CAROUSER was not listed.

My selection: RANCOURS


Round 2: N H E A O H E G T

I had HONE, AEON, NEGATE, and ETHANE.

The seven in this mix is HEATHEN.  The other six is GOATEE.

My selection: NEGATE
Best: HEATHEN


Round 3: Target 616 from 75 100 1 8 9 5

The offset for the standard method is 9, which we have, so that was the immediately tempting option.  The required subtarget is then 625, which is 25*25.  With large numbers around that is clearly a tempting option to investigate.  We'd have to divide the 75 by 3 and the 100 by 4, so overall we need to divide by 12.  The remaining numbers can get us there, leading to the solution 616 = 75*100/(8 + 5 - 1) - 9.

Then I considered the factorisation 8*77 and found an alternative of 616 = 8*(75 + 100/(5*(9 + 1)).  After time I looked at that again and realised that I'd wasted a number, with the alternative being the simpler 616 = 8*(75 + (9 + 1)/5).

My selection: 616 = 75*100/(8 + 5 - 1) - 9


Round 4: A I P S C L D I I

I had CAPS, ASPIC, CLIPS, PLACID, PLAIDS, and LIPIDS.

Six is the best to be done -- the Macquarie does not list LIPIDIC -- with the others being SILICA, DISCAL (adjective derived from DISC), and CAPSID ("the coating of a virus particle, consisting of one or a few proteins whose molecules are arranged in a highly ordered fashion").

My selection: PLACID


Round 5: I L E T S A O B N

I had TILE, STILE ("a series of steps or the like for ascending and descending in getting over a fence, etc., which remains closed to cattle"), STABILE (like a mobile, but not capable of moving), BONIEST, NOTABLES, and ELATIONS / TOENAILS.  I briefly thought that OBSTINATE was available, but that required replacing the L with a T.

There is a nine here, though: TAILBONES.  The other eights are TAILBONE, BOTANIES / BOTANISE / OBEISANT / NIOBATES, INSTABLE ("not stable"), and INSOLATE ("to expose to the sun's rays").

My selection: TOENAILS
Best: TAILBONES


Round 6: Target 933 from 50 100 75 7 7 4

I flailed around for some time on this one.  I noted that the target was 1008 - 75; this may seem a straight thing to observe, but 1008 is 7*144 and so has many useful small factors.  Unfortunately, I was not able to turn this into a solution; pursuing that idea got me to three away with 930 = (100 + 50 - 7)*7 - 75 + 4.  When I resigned myself to trying to simply get close I realised that 925 + 7 for one off was a more likely tack, but it took me a while to find 932 = 4*100 + 7*75 + 7.

Seen while writing this up is the (obvious in retrospect) simpler 932 = (7 + 4)*75 + 100 + 7.

The target is not reachable, so one off is the best to be done.

My selection: 932 = 4*100 + 7*75 + 7  [1 off]


Round 7: U U A E D F R T D

I had FADE, FRAUD, FUTURE, DRAFTED, and DEFRAUD.

Those appear to be the only sevens, and the best to be done.

My selection: DEFRAUD


Round 8: Target 876 from 100 7 8 9 8 3

The initial approximation of 9*100 is hard to go past, and the offset of 24 is easily formed.  The resulting solution is 876 = 9*100 - 3*8.  Then I looked at working up from 800 and found the alternative 876 = 8*(100 + 9) + 7 - 3.

My selection: 876 = 9*100 - 3*8


Round 9: WHEAT WISH

I chose this conundrum after being presented with the similarish (but unusable) WATCHWISE.

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explicitly]
Best: WHITEWASH