NG 514

New game 514 is now available.


Round 1: F R H T R W O E O

I had WORTH, wondered about FROTHER (not valid), and THROWER.  After time I noted some sixes of TWOFER (not valid, as it turns out) and WOOFER.

THROWER appears to be the only seven.  The other sixes are FOOTER, HOOTER, ROOFER, ROOTER / TORERO ("a bullfighter who fights on foot"), RHETOR ("a master or teacher of rhetoric"), FOTHER ("to stop a leak in a wooden hull by covering it with a sail or tarpaulin containing a thrumming of rope yarns and oakum"), HOOFER ("US Colloquial someone who makes dancing an occupation, as a chorus girl"), and FOETOR ("any strong offensive smell").

My selection: THROWER


Round 2: L S P O A D E K A

I had SLOP, LOADS, SLOPED, SLAKED, PEDALS, knew that PEDALOS is not listed, and LAPSED.

The sevens here are DEPOSAL, POLKAED, and SKOALED (SKOAL being a variant spelling of SKOL in the sense of "to consume (a drink) at one draught").

My selection: PEDALS
Best: DEPOSAL


Round 3: Target 756 from 100 3 7 8 10 4

I went with the simple 756 = 7*(100 + 8).

My selection: 756 = 7*(100 + 8)


Round 4: O S M I S A N C Y

I had MOSS, MASONS, MASONIC, and CYANOSIS ("blueness or lividness of the skin, as from imperfectly oxygenated blood").  After time I noted MANIOCS as another seven.

CYANOSIS is the only eight.  The other sevens are MOSAICS, CASINOS / CASSINO (a card game) / CAISSON, MASCONS (MASCON: "any of several local concentrations of mass below the surface of the moon"), CAMIONS (CAMION: "a strongly built truck or cart for carrying heavy loads"), MYCOSIS ("the presence of parasitic fungi in or on any part of the body"), and MYOSINS (MYOSIN: "a globulin occuring in muscle plasma").

My selection: CYANOSIS


Round 5: F A P E I A C M T

I had APACE and IMPACT.

The other sixes are ACMITE (a mineral, also known as AEGERITE), CAPITA (plural of CAPUT: "any head or headlike expansion on a structure, as on a bone"), and FACIAE* (FACIA being a variant spelling of FASCIA, which has the plural form FASCIAE).

My selection: IMPACT


Round 6: Target 501 from 75 100 2 6 3 2

I started with 501 = 6*75 + 100/2 + 3 - 2, then used the factorisation 3*167 to get an alternative solution of 501 = (100 + 75 - 6 - 2)*3.

My selection: 501 = 6*75 + 100/2 + 3 - 2


Round 7: E D E U O G E C T

I had GEODE, GOUTED (not valid; I've made this mistake before), and DEUCE.

Five turns out to be the limit on this mix; the others are OUTED, EDUCE ("to draw forth or bring out; elicit; develop"), EDUCT ("something educed"), ÉTUDE, and GODET ("a wheel or roller used in spinning rayon yarn").

My selection: [invalid -- GOUTED]
Best: DEUCE


Round 8: Target 665 from 75 4 10 7 3 6

The target is near 666, which is familiarly 9*74.  I turned that into 1 off with 666 = (7*10 + 4)*(6 + 3), then realised that I was being silly and wrote down the simple adjustment to a solution: 665 = (6 + 3)*75 - 10.  After time I noted the factorisation 7*95, and so found another solution of 665 = (75 + 10 + 6 + 4)*7.

My selection: 665 = (6 + 3)*75 - 10


Round 9: GORY DANNY

Not the most helpful set of letters; with two Y's they were worth focusing on for useful fragments.  I found GYRO- but that was not helpful, then switched to GYNO- and -ANDRY.  Just in time I realised that I had those fragments reversed, and so found the answer of ANDROGYNY (noun derived from ANDROGYNOUS: "having both masculine and feminine characteristics").

My selection: ANDROGYNY (28.6s)