NG 817

New game 817 is now available.

The re-run is episode 80; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: T N E O T E L E M

I had NOTE, ELEMENT, MELTON ("a smooth heavy woollen cloth, used for coats, hunting jackets, etc.") / MOLTEN, LEMON / MELON, METTLE, and NETTLE.

The other seven here is NOTELET, but the eight to be had is OMELETTE.

My selection: ELEMENT
Best: OMELETTE


Round 2: E P I F U S N M E

I had PIES, FINES, INFUSE, and PIEMEN.

Six is the best on offer here; the others are UMPIES (UMPIE being colloquial for an umpire), SUPINE / PUISNE ("Law younger; inferior in rank; junior, as in appointment"), and NEUMES (NEUME: "any of various symbols used in medieval musical notation, and still used for noting Gregorian chant, etc.").

My selection: INFUSE


Round 3: Target 175 from 7 6 5 2 10 4

The target is 7*25, and I started with 175 = 7*(2*10 + 5) then noted the alternative of 175 = 7*5*10/2.

My selection: 175 = 7*5*10/2


Round 4: O R C S A H I N G

I had an uncertain ORCS (valid; ORC: "a mythical monster, especially a sea-monster"), ORCAS, ROACH, CRASH, CHAINS, ARCHING, SHARING, CRASHING, ANCHORS / ARCHONS, CHAGRIN, and CHAGRINS (I was unsure, but later checking pointed out that CHAGRIN is also a verb).  After time I noted another seven of ORGANIC, and checked up on ORGANICS (not valid).

The remaining eight is ARCHINGS, since ARCHING has an explicit separate listing as "arched work or formation".

My selection: CRASHING


Round 5: O E D F T H D I R

I had DEFT, DOTED, FOETID, DRIFTED, and THEROID ("having animal propensities or characteristics").

The remaining sevens are FROTHED and FOREDID.

My selection: DRIFTED


Round 6: Target 848 from 100 75 50 25 10 7

The target is 8*106, or 16*53, but those seemed difficult to use.  If trying to apply the standard method, then the target is near (10 + 7)*50 = 850.  Unfortunately, the 50 is needed to make the offset of 2 so another approach is needed; happily it was feasible, giving me 848 = 10*75 + 100 - 50/25.

Of course, what I missed is that the 50 can be made as 75 - 25, giving two alternative solutions with the approach I discarded: 848 = (10 + 7)*50 - 100 / 50, where one of those fifties is made as 75 - 25.  That's all the solutions listed.

My selection: 848 = 10*75 + 100 - 50/25


Round 7: I G S O N A D M U

I had SING, GONADS, MOUSING, DOUSING, and AMUSING.

The eight here is DIGAMOUS (adjective derived from DIGAMY: "second marriage; the practice of marrying again after the death or divorce of the first spouse").  The other sevens are MADISON (a type of bicycle race), DOMAINS / DAIMONS (DAIMON being a variant spelling of DAEMON), GANOIDS (GANOID being a type of fish), and GUIDONS (GUIDON: "a swallow-tailed pennant, used as a military standard").

My selection: AMUSING
Best: DIGAMOUS


Round 8: Target 175 from 100 2 8 9 5 8

Another target of 175; again, my thoughts turned to 7*25 as a method.  To get the 25 I thought of 100 / 4; making the 4 as 8 / 2, and then the 7 was not possible.  But 9 + 5 = 14 is twice seven, and that means we can divide by 8 instead, leading to the short solution 175 = (9 + 5)*100 / 8.  Then I noted a more prosaic option of 175 = 100 + 8*9 + 5 - 2.

While writing this up I have seen another way to make the 25, leading to a solution in small numbers alone: 175 = (8 + 8 + 9)*(5 + 2).

My selection: 175 = (9 + 5)*100 / 8


Round 9: LARGE COIL

I considered the -ICAL ending, and some free associating on the remaining letters gave me the key LEGOR fragment and thus the answer of ALLEGORIC.

My selection: ALLEGORIC (13.6s)