NG 488

New game 488 is now available.


Round 1: O O S R U N R C H

I had ROOS, SOUR, HONOURS, and CROONS.

The other seven is OCHROUS (adjective derived from OCHRE).  As I mentioned back in NG 24, CHURRO is not listed in the Macquarie so CHURROS is not valid.

My selection: HONOURS


Round 2: B R S T E I W U E

I had REST, BITERS, BRUISE, WRITES, and BUSTIER.  After time I noted WEBSITE as another seven.

The other sevens are BESTREW, SUETIER*, and -- taking my modified rules to somewhat of an extreme -- RUBIEST*.

My selection: BUSTIER


Round 3: Target 713 from 50 100 75 9 1 8

The required offsets of 13 or 12 both seem difficult to make, and I flailed around unprofitably for a while.  I then fortuitously stumbled upon an answer when I added 50 to the target and realised that the resulting 763 was 7*109.  Each component was formable, leading to 713 = (8 - 1)*(100 + 9) - 50.

There are two other solutions, both of which seem difficult to find: 713 = ((100 - 1)/9)*(50 + 8) + 75, and 713 = (50*100 - 9)/(8 - 1).

My selection: 713 = (8 - 1)*(100 + 9) - 50


Round 4: C A G I R L T E O

I had CIGAR, GARLIC, TRAGIC, ARTICLE / RECITAL, GLACIER, and LORICATE ("covered with a lorica"; a lorica is "a hard protective case or sheath [...]").  There was the potential for a full monty here, with an A for the last vowel allowing CARTILAGE or a U yielding CURTILAGE / GRATICULE.

LORICATE is the only eight; other sources might allow EROTICAL, but it's not in the Macquarie.  There were more other sevens than I felt like checking.

My selection: LORICATE


Round 5: C E T E H S A N O

I had TECH, ETCHES, TEACHES, CHASTEN, NOTCHES, and ACETONES.

The other eight is NOTECASE; again, I'm too lazy to list all the sevens.

My selection: ACETONES


Round 6: Target 590 from 50 25 100 5 7 8

I overlooked what feels like a simple application of the standard method to get 590 = 5*100 + 50 + 25 + 8 + 7.  Instead I used the offset from 550, tweaking to get 590 = 5*(100 + 8) + 50.  After that I descended from 600, finding the alternative 8*(100 - 25) - 50/5.

My selection: 590 = 5*(100 + 8) + 50


Round 7: E F L I P G N U A

I had LIFE, FUELING (which I now see I miswrote as FUELIGN, so it's a good thing this was not my eventual choice!), PALING, and PEALING.  After time I noted PAINFUL as another seven.

Seven is the best to be done here; the others are GAINFUL, FINAGLE / LEAFING, LEAPING, and LINGUAE (plural of LINGUA: "the tongue or a part like a tongue").

My selection: PEALING


Round 8: Target 512 from 1 9 10 4 5 3

The target is the ninth power of 2, but that was not immediately useful.  Instead I went for the simple option of first getting to 500, and found that the remaining two numbers were exactly what was needed to make up the difference: 512 = (9 + 1)*10*5 + 3*4.

My selection: 512 = (9 + 1)*10*5 + 3*4


Round 9: UNTO OLIVE

I forget what made me choose this conundrum.  The -TION fragment is there, but with the rather less common -UTION ending it may be a bit hard to spot.

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explictly]
Best: EVOLUTION