NG 553

New game 553 is now available.


Round 1: R E Q T S W I U O

I had REST, WREST, WRITES, thought that QUESTOR was probably invalid (correctly so), and decided to chance QUOTERS.  Fortunately it is valid.

The safer (from my point of view) anagram of QUOTERS is ROQUETS (ROQUET: "(Mallet sports) to cause one's ball to strike (another player's ball)"); the more common option would have been TORQUES.  The remaining seven is QUERIST.

My selection: QUOTERS


Round 2: S E I D H A R I M

I had SIDE, HIDES, SHARED, MISREAD / ADMIRES, wondered about SEMIHARD (not valid, as expected), and DIRHAMS.  A bit after time I saw MISHEAR, and then the extension to MISHEARD.

The other eight is SEMIARID (the main listing is hyphenated, but the unhyphenated version is listed as a variant).  The other sevens are DAIRIES / DIARIES / DIARISE, SIDEARM, MIDAIRS (MIDAIR: "a collision between two aeroplanes which takes place in midair"), MIDRASH ("the traditional Jewish interpretation of Scripture, whether of its legal or its nonlegal portions"), SHADIER / AIRSHED ("a volume of air confined to a distinct geographic region, and within which pollutants are contained") / HARDIES (HARDY: "a chisel or fuller with a square shank for insertion into a square hole (hardy-hole) in a blacksmith's anvil") / DASHIER*, and DISHIER*.

My selection: ADMIRES
Best: MISHEARD


Round 3: Target 328 from 100 25 5 1 7 10

Applying the standard method means making a 3, most likely as 10 - 7.  A 1 is often useful for tweaking purposes when there is an offset, but for some reason I overlooked 328 = (10 - 7)*(100 + 1) + 25.  Instead, I flailed around a bit and found the overly complicated 328 = 5*100 - 7*(25 + 1) + 10.

Another relatively simple solution uses the factorisation 4*82, or alternatively is a tweak using 4*7 to get 28 as an offset: 328 = (5 - 1)*(100 - 25 + 7).

My selection: 328 = 5*100 - 7*(25 + 1) + 10


Round 4: O S N A K T N C I

I had SANK, TANKS, SONANT, CANTONS, ACTIONS / CATIONS, NATIONS, rightly rejected NONSTICK (it is listed only with a hyphen), and CONTAINS.

The other eights are SANCTION / CANONIST ("someone versed in canon law") / ACTINONS (CTINON being listed as another term for an ACTINIDE: "any of the series of elements with atomic numbers between 89 and 103; analogous to a lanthanide").

The other sevens are ACTINON / CONTAIN, ANOINTS / ONANIST, STANNIC ("of or containing tin [...]"), ATONICS (ATONIC: "Phonetics an unaccented word, syllable, or sound"), KATIONS (KATION being a variant spelling of CATION), and CATKINS (CATKIN: "Botany a spike-like inflorescence consisting of unisexual flowers, as of the willow or birch").  CATSKIN does not get a mention.

My selection: CONTAINS


Round 5: E M R U S G A N B

I had SURE, ARGUES, MANGERS, NUMBERS, and SUBRANGE.  Unfortunately this last is not listed, a little to my surprise.

The valid eight in this mix is UMBRAGES.  The other sevens are UMBRAGE, MANURES / SURNAME, SUNBEAM, BANGERS / GRABENS (GRABEN being another term for a RIFT VALLEY: "a portion of the earth's crust, bounded on at least two sides by faults, that has been moved downwards in relation to the adjacent portions"), BUNGERS, and ENGRAMS (ENGRAM: "Biology the durable mark caused by a stimulus upon protoplasm").

My selection: [invalid -- SUBRANGE]
Best: UMBRAGES


Round 6: Target 150 from 25 100 5 4 2 7

The obvious solution is 150 = 100 + 2*25.  I then looked for a solution in small numbers only, and found it with 150 = (7*4 + 2)*5.

My selection: 150 = (7*4 + 2)*5


Round 7: T L I M U C Z I P

I had MILT ("the secretion of the male generative organs of fishes"), MULCT ("to deprive of something by trickery"), LIMIT, TULIP, and CILIUM.

CILIUM is the only six, and the best to be done.

My selection: CILIUM


Round 8: Target 189 from 25 7 5 8 4 6

A familiar target, being 7*27 or 9*21.  The former seemed more amenable to a solution in small numbers, and with a little experiment I found 189 = (4*8 - 5)*7.  Looking at the alternative of 9*21, I then found an alternative using the small numbers in ascending order: 189 = (4 + 5)*(6 + 7 + 8).

My selection: 189 = (4*8 - 5)*7


Round 9: DIRE POINT

I chose this conundrum, although I no longer recall what made me think of it.

My selection: [N/A -- conundrum chosen explicitly]
Best: PERDITION