NG 814

New game 814 is now available.

The re-run is episode 77; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: I S U A C P N D R

I had CAPS, PANICS, and DURIANS, rightly rejecting URANICS along the way.

DURIANS turns out to be the only seven, and the best to be done.

My selection: DURIANS


Round 2: M B T L E I A O N

I had MELT, METAL, TOENAIL / ELATION, and NOTABLE.  A little after time I found the eight of TAILBONE.

The other eight is BAILMENT ("the act of bailing a prisoner or accused person").  The other sevens are AILMENT / ALIMENT (an obsolete term: "that which nourishes"), AMBIENT, NIOBATE, BOATMEN, LAMBENT ("running or moving lightly over a surface") / BELTMAN ("the member of a surf-lifesaving team who wears the belt attached to the surf-line and swims to the rescue of a person in difficulties"), LIMBATE ("bordered, as a flower in which one colour is surrounded by an edging of another") / TIMBALE ("a preparation of minced meat, fish, or vegetables, cooked in a cup-shaped mould"), and a familiar trio of TELAMON ("a figure of a man used like a supporting column; an atlas") / OMENTAL (adjective derived from OMENTUM: "a fold or duplication of the peritoneum passing between certain of the viscera [...]") / LOMENTA (plural of LOMENTUM: "a dry fruit derived from one carpel which breaks up transversely into one-seeded segments at maturity").

My selection: ELATION
Best: TAILBONE


Round 3: Target 507 from 75 1 10 2 5 9

The target is thrice the square of thirteen, but that does not seem a profitable line of investigation.  I struggled with this for a bit, but stumbled upon a solution when I realised that the target was 75 more than 432 and recognised 432 as being being 9*48.  That gave me a solution of 507 = (5*10 - 2)*9 + 75.

Note that I could have worked toward that target by thinking of it as 525 - 2*9 -- the answer I gave is just a tweak of that.  Thinking about it in those terms might also lead to an alternative solution of 507 = (5 + 2)*75 - 10 - 9 + 1.

My selection: 507 = (5*10 - 2)*9 + 75


Round 4: U I T A O F S M P

I had AUTO, FOIST, FAMOUS, and IMPASTO.

The other sevens are UTOPIAS, MATIPOS (MATIPO being one of two types of tree), and SFUMATO ("the transition in a work of art of tone or colour from light to dark by imperceptible stages").

My selection: IMPASTO


Round 5: S C T O S H E L E

I had COST, COSTS, CLOTHES, CLOSETS, and wondered about ECHOLESS.  It turns out to be valid, but I jumped the wrong way by not risking it.  After time I noted down HOSTELS as another seven.

ECHOLESS is the only eight.  The other seven are SELECTS, TOELESS, CLOSETS, ETHOSES, and LETCHES.

My selection: CLOTHES
Best: ECHOLESS


Round 6: Target 349 from 25 100 50 1 8 4

A simple case for the standard method; I went with 349 = 4*100 - 50 - 1.

My selection: 349 = 4*100 - 50 - 1


Round 7: R I N E E T U D W

I had REIN, ENTER, RETINUE / REUNITE / UTERINE, REUNITED, and WINTERED.

REUNITED and WINTERED are the only eights.  The other sevens are ERUDITE, TENURED / DENTURE / RETUNED, INTRUDE / UNTRIED / TURDINE ("belonging or related to the thrushes [...]"), WIDENER, and DETINUE ("an old common-law form of action to recover possession or the value of articles of personal property wrongfully detained").

My selection: REUNITED


Round 8: Target 296 from 75 100 50 5 2 4

Another reasonably simple game for the standard method: 296 = 2*(100 + 50) - 4.

My selection: 296 = 2*(100 + 50) - 4


Round 9: INSIDE DAD

I skipped through this too quickly without actually looking for an answer.  Whoops!

My selection: [no answer]
Best: DISDAINED