NG 487

New game 487 is now available.


Round 1: I A E N L S R T C

I had ALIEN, ALIENS, TRENAILS (TRENAIL is a variant spelling of TREENAIL: "a cylindrical pin of hard word for fastening together timbers in ships, etc.") / LATRINES, CLARINETS, and ARTICLES / RECITALS.

CLARINETS is the only nine; other sources would allow CISTERNAL or LARCENIST, but the Macquarie has neither.

The other eights are CANISTER / SCANTIER / CERATINS (CERATIN being a variant spelling of the protein KERATIN), ENTRAILS / RATLINES (RATLINE being a nautical term for "any of the small ropes or lines which traverse the shrouds horizontally, serving as steps for going aloft"), CARLINES (CARLINE being a type of plant, as well as a Scottish term for an old woman), CENTRALS (CENTRAL as a noun: "US the office of a telephone system, in which connections are made between different lines"), CANISTEL ("the fruit of the canistel tree [...]"; strangely, the tree itself does not get an entry), and STERICAL (variant of STERIC: "relating to the spatial relationship of atoms in the molecule").

My selection: CLARINETS


Round 2: E F R S P O N E I

I had REFS, SPORE, PERSON, PRISON, noted that an A instead of one of the E's would have yielded PINAFORES, and OPENERS / REOPENS.  After time I noted PEONIES as another seven.

There are eights to be had: PIONEERS / ISOPRENE.  There's a fair few other sevens, of which I'll just mention PIONEER and REFINES.

My selection: OPENERS
Best: PIONEERS


Round 3: Target 778 from 50 25 75 3 1 9

It was clearly desirable to keep the 3 aside, and some experimentation with the rest produced a solution: 778 = (9 + 1)*75 + 25 + 3.

My selection: 778 = (9 + 1)*75 + 25 + 3


Round 4: A R U A T R N L E

I had AURA, RETURN, NATURAL, and NARRATE.

Seven is the best to be done, with the other being NEUTRAL.

My selection: NATURAL


Round 5: O T S E E C O S V

I had TOES, COTES, COSSET, COVETS, and VETOES.  I also noticed that a D instead of an S would have allowed DOVECOTES, which would have been nice.

Six seems to be the limit here, with the others being STOVES, SCOOTS, COOEES, COSETS (COSET: "(in mathematics) a set which with another set produces a specified larger set", which is a vague enough definition to be essentially useless) / ESTOCS (ESTOC: "a short stabbing sword"), and SETOSE ("bristly").

My selection: COVETS


Round 6: Target 893 from 25 75 100 7 6 5

Clearly making this as 900 - 7 is the way to go; I went with 893 = 6*(100 + 75 - 25) - 7, then after time found the alternative of 893 = 5*(100 + 75) + 25 - 7.

My selection: 893 = 6*(100 + 75 - 25) - 7


Round 7: I L E D H T A O N

I had IDLE, LITHE, TAILED, and DELATION (noun derived from DELATE: "to inform against; denounce or accuse").  After time I noted ETHANOL as one of the sevens.

DELATION seems to be the only eight.  The other sevens are ELATION / TOENAIL, HOTLINE / NEOLITH ("a person who lived in the Neolithic period"), INHALED, LOATHED, TALONED, and LENTOID ("having the shape of a biconvex lens").

My selection: DELATION


Round 8: Target 218 from 50 75 10 9 3 3

Getting to 225 was the obvious starting point, with the remaining issue being to make a 7.  I overcomplicated things to start with by finding 218 = 3*75 - (9 + 3 - 50/10), then saved a number with 218 = 9*(75 - 50) - (10 - 3), before realising that combining the two approaches was better again: 218 = 3*75 - (10 - 3).

My selection: 218 = 3*75 - (10 - 3)


Round 9: OILS BAGEL

I was fortunate enough to try the -ISE fragment early.  Surprisingly quickly, in fact -- probably I was presented with this in an easier form.

My selection: GLOBALISE (1.6s)