NG 552

New game 552 is now available.


Round 1: A N E M D I D E G

I had NAME, NAMED, DEMAND, wondered about MADDING (valid: "mad; acting as if mad"), and the safer seven of DEEMING.

Both ADDEEMING and ADEEMING are too archaic for the Macquarie, so seven is the best result from this mix.  The others are ENDGAME, DEIGNED, and AMENDED.  I was a bit surprised to find that DEED only had noun senses listed, so DEEDING is not valid.

My selection: DEEMING


Round 2: C T I F E N F H E

I had CITE, FETCH, CHIEF, THIEF, FETICH (variant form of FETISH), INFECT, EFFECT, and THEINE ("caffeine found in tea").  Just after time I looked at -TEEN and saw FIFTEEN.

FIFTEEN is the only seven in this mix, and the best to be done.

My selection: INFECT
Best: FIFTEEN


Round 3: Target 845 from 25 1 7 7 1 5

The standard method would suggest getting to 850, which is 25*34.  It would be nice to keep the 5 aside for the final offset, but the obvious methods of getting to 34 need it.  Still, I wrote down the 1 off result of 844 = (5*7 - 1)*25 - (7 - 1) and kept looking.  Of course, 875 is one of my favourite intermediates, and the offset is 30; it turned out that a simple tweak finished it off: 845 = 5*(7*25 - 7 + 1).  I also noted the minor variation 845 = 5*(7*(25 - 1) + 1).

It turns out that those are the only two solutions.

My selection: 845 = 5*(7*25 - 7 + 1)


Round 4: S E O U W L I N R

I had WOES, LOUSE, LESION, and SNOWIER.

The other sevens are LOUSIER / LOURIES (LOURIE being another name for a turaco, a type of bird), SURLOIN, ELUSION ("the act of eluding"), UNSWORE, URINOSE (variant form of URINOUS), WURLIES (WURLIE being a variant spelling WURLEY: "an Aboriginal hut or shelter made of boughs, leaves and plaited grass"), and LOWRIES* (LOWRY listed without an explicit plural form: "any of various rosellas").

My selection: SNOWIER


Round 5: S A B T G D C E O

I had STAB, BASTED, and COASTED.

The other sevens are BOASTED, DOTAGES, BODEGAS, and BOSCAGE ("a mass of growing trees or shrubs").

My selection: COASTED


Round 6: Target 500 from 50 7 4 1 6 5

Oh, dear.  That's always going to be a rather unchallenging target.  I went with 500 = 50*(6 + 4).

My selection: 500 = 50*(6 + 4)


Round 7: L I A S R C A T A

I had SAIL, RAILS, and RASCAL.  Checking after time confirmed that RACIALS is not valid.

There are sevens, though: LARIATS / LATRIAS (LATRIA: "(in Roman Catholic theology) that supreme worship which may be offered to God only"), ARALIAS (ARALIA being a type of plant), and CITRALS (CITRAL being a type of terpene used in perfumery).

My selection: RASCAL
Best: LARIATS


Round 8: Target 309 from 25 50 100 2 8 6

The single odd number makes this potentially difficult.  I wrote down a fallback 308 = 6*50 + 8 and flailed around for a bit.  Eventually, I considered the option of 2472/8, and managed to make it work with 309 = (25*100 - (50 + 6)/2) / 8.

Of course, I really made this more complicated than it needed to be.  Applying the standard method should lead to considering 325 - 16, and 16 is obviously 2*8.  So it should have been easy enough to find 309 = 6*50 + 5 - 2*8.

My selection: 309 = (25*100 - (50 + 6)/2) / 8


Round 9: BUOY BELCH

I gave up on this one too early.  I was struggling in any case, though.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: CUBBYHOLE