NG 517

New game 517 is now available.


Round 1: O M E O A L C S A

I had LOAM, SOLACE, and CAMELS.  I wanted a final I for CAMISOLE, but no such luck; taking a consonant instead, though, would have given a T for COMATOSE.  After time I noted another six of CAMEOS.

There are two sevens here: CAEOMAS (one plural form of CAEOMA: "(in fungi) an aecium in which the spores are formed in chains and not enclosed in a peridium"; the other is CAEOMATA) and COLEOMS (COELOM: "the body cavity of a metazoan, as distinguished from the intestinal cavity").

My selection: SOLACE
Best: CAEOMAS


Round 2: T O O A E W D G N

I had TOAD, TOWED, WAGON, GOWNED, DOTAGE, and TANGOED.

The other sevens are TWANGED and WAGONED.

My selection: TANGOED


Round 3: Target 442 from 100 75 8 9 5 2

My usual successive approximation approach gave me a solution of 442 = 5*100 - 75 + 9 + 8.  Then I considered the standard method instead, finding a perhaps more natural solution of 442 = (9 + 2 - 5)*75 - 8.

My selection: 442 = (9 + 2 - 5)*75 - 8


Round 4: D I L E R S H C U

I had IDLE, RILED, IDLERS, SHIELD, CRUSHED, HURDLES, CRUISED, and LURCHED.  I also noted CHILDER (an archaic term for children), but of course CHILDERS would not be valid.

It's a bit surprising that seven is the limit with these letters.  The others are CURDLES, SLUICED, LURCHES, CHIDERS, DUCHIES, CUSHIER, CHILDES (CHILDE: "Archaic a youth of noble birth"), and HURLIES (HURLY: "commotion; hurly-burly") / LUSHIER*.

My selection: CRUSHED


Round 5: I N D B R E U I S

I had BIND, BINDER, BRUISED, and considered SIDEBURN, but correctly guessed that only the plural form would be listed.

There is an eight here: URIDINE is "a nucleotide of uracil and ribose, present in all living cells, mainly in combined form, as in ribonucleic acids".  Thus URIDINES is the eight.

The other sevens are URIDINE, INSURED, BURDENS, REBINDS, INSIDER, BIRDIES, SUNBIRD, SUBERIN ("a substance contained in and characteristic of cork tissue"), and BUNDIES* (BUNDY being a type of tree, and also "a clock which marks the time on a card inserted in it, used to record arrival and departure times of employees").

My selection: BRUISED
Best: URIDINES


Round 6: Target 861 from 25 3 4 5 10 8

The nearest multiple of 25 is 25*34, which gave me two off with 863 = (3*10 + 4)*25 + 8 + 5.  Then I looked at using 10 as a multiplier, thereby wanting to get near to 86; that got me to one away with 862 = (25 + 4)*3*10 - 8.  Finally, I realised that I could get to 850 by using (25 - 8) as a partial factor, and that the offset of 11 was 5*3 - 4.  Putting those together with a tweak led to the solution 861 = 5*((25 - 8)*10 + 3) - 4.

My selection: 861 = 5*((25 - 8)*10 + 3) - 4


Round 7: H B A I S P U M D

I had BASH, BUMPS, and was toying with DAMPISH before I settled on IAMBUS.  I'm a bit annoyed at myself for talking myself out of DAMPISH, which sounded better the more I thought about it.  Oh, well.

The sevens are DAMPISH / PHASMID (any of a certain genus of insects) and DUMPISH ("depressed; sad").

My selection: IAMBUS
Best: DAMPISH


Round 8: Target 990 from 75 1 9 3 6 2

I wanted to make this as 9*110, but for some reason overlooked 990 = (75 + (6 + 1)*(3 + 2))*9.  Instead I used an alternative factorisation of 66*15 to get 990 = (75 - 9)*(2*6 + 3).  Playing around with alternatives I found a solution as 11*90, via 990 = (9 + 2)*(75 + 3*(6 - 1)).

My selection: 990 = (75 - 9)*(2*6 + 3)


Round 9: ANTI CACTI

I saw TIC TAC, but somehow failed to convert it to TACTIC.  I made no further progress after that point.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: TACTICIAN