NG 539

New game 539 is now available.


Round 1: D G I A S I R N M

I had DIGS, DRAGS, RAISING, RAIDING, MARGINS, and DISARMING.

The eight in this mix is ADMIRING.  The other sevens are AIRINGS / ARISING, MIDAIRS (MIDAIR: "a collision between two aeroplanes which takes place in midair"), RIDINGS (RIDING: "an area division within a shire"), SMIDGIN (variant spelling of SMIDGEN), AMIDINS (AMIDIN: "the soluble matter of starch"), the dubious DARINGS / GRADINS (GRADIN: "one of a series of steps or seats raised one above another"), and ARMINGS (ARMING: "a piece of tallow placed in a cavity at the lower end of a sounding lead to bring up a sample of the sand, mud, etc., of the sea bottom").

My selection: DISARMING


Round 2: E O R I S C S N E

I had ROSE, SCORE, COSIER, wanted a final A for SCENARIOS but was disappointed, got confused about which letters were duplicated and wrote down EROSION and EROSIONS, SINCERE, and then fortunately spotted RECESSION so my earlier mistakes did not make trouble.  Two full monties to start the game!

The eights here are NECROSIS and CERESINS (CERESIN: "a hard and brittle paraffin wax used as a substitute for beeswax in paints and polishes").  It continues to be annoying that the Macquarie does not list the plural form NECROSES.

My selection: RECESSION


Round 3: Target 760 from 100 75 4 7 5 3

The factorisation 10*76 is tempting, and soon gave 760 = (75 + 5 - 4)*(7 + 3).  Then I considered the option of 775 - 15 and found 760 = 7*100 + 75 - 3*5, and finally avoided the 75 entirely with 760 = 7*100 + 3*4*5.

My selection: 760 = 7*100 + 3*4*5


Round 4: F C T R E S I U O

After the first four letters I was hoping for FACTORIES / FACTORISE, and it very nearly arrived.  Instead, I had FRET, a bizarre FRECT (not valid, of course; I'm pretty sure I was meaning to write FRETS and got confused partway through), FRUITS, SURFEIT, and OUTCRIES.  After time I noted another eight of FRUCTOSE.

Would you believe it, there actually is another full monty here!  It is FRUTICOSE ("having the form of a shrub; shrublike").  The other eight is CITREOUS ("lemon yellow; greenish yellow").

My selection: OUTCRIES
Best: FRUTICOSE


Round 5: A E R H P I N Q U

I had HEAR, PURINE, noted that an L instead of the P would have given HARLEQUIN, PUNIER, and UNHEAR (not valid).

The seven in this mix is HEPARIN ("a polysaccharide containing sulfate groups produced in the liver, which prevents the coagulation of the blood, and is used in the treatment of thrombosis").  The other sixes are UNRIPE, HERNIA, UNHAIR, RUPIAH, and RAPINE.

My selection: PURINE
Best: HEPARIN


Round 6: Target 618 from 25 6 8 2 6 7

The target is 6*103, but I found that difficult to manage (seen just now: 618 = 6*(2*6*8 + 7)).  Instead I went for 3*206 and 618 = (25*8 + 6)*6/2.

My selection: 618 = (25*8 + 6)*6/2


Round 7: O A F W D I B L R

I had WOAD and BRAID, noting WILD BOAR along the way (inspired by Asterix and Obelix).  A little after time I saw the seven of AIRFLOW.

The other seven is LABROID (a type of fish).  The other sixes are BRIDAL / RIBALD / LABRID (variant form of LABROID), FORBID, FORBAD (variant form of FORBADE), FLORID, BIFOLD ("of or relating to usually narrow doors which are hinged together and open by folding sideways"), BAILOR, and FOLIAR ("of, relating to, or having the nature of a leaf or leaves").

My selection: BRAID
Best: AIRFLOW


Round 8: Target 654 from 50 4 10 8 2 6

The target is 6*109, but the lack of odd numbers makes that less tempting as a proposition.  Instead I started with the standard method to get 654 = (10 + 6/2)*50 + 4, and then used the alternative factorisation 3*218 again to get 654 = (4*50 + 10 + 8)*6/2.

My selection: 654 = (10 + 6/2)*50 + 4


Round 9: NERDS SANG

The -NESS fragment sorts this out soon enough.

My selection: GRANDNESS (4.2s)