NG 820

New game 820 is now available.

The re-run is episode 83; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: O U N E I H T R B

I had HONE, THINE, ROUTINE, and TRIBUNE / TURBINE.  After time I noted down BORNITE (a mineral) as another seven.

The remaining seven is BURTHEN, apparently an obsolete variant of BURDEN.

My selection: ROUTINE


Round 2: C E M O F S W I A

I had COME, COMES, FACIES ("a general appearance of something naturally occurring, as a particular flora, fauna or ecological community"), MIAOWS, MOSAIC, and CAMEOS.

The other sixes are FIASCO, FICOES (plural of FICO: "the merest trifle"), and AMICES (AMICE: "a furred hood or hooded cape with long ends hanging down in front, formerly worn by the clergy").

My selection: MOSAIC


Round 3: Target 885 from 100 50 7 1 4 7

Ah, I struggled with this one.  I wanted to make it as 850 + 35 (with the 35 being 7*(4 + 1)), but my tweaking attempt with 7*100 did not work out.  In the end I had to settle for two away, with 883 = (7 - 1)*(100 + 50 - 4) + 7.

There is only one solution, and it was via the approach that I had tried.  My error was to get hung up on 7*100 as the tweak; if I had stopped and properly thought about matters, using 7*50 would have left a tweakable offset of 500 and so given me the solution: 885 = (4 + 1)*(100 + 7) + 7*50.  Bother!

That is the only solution.  There's also only one way to get one off, incidentally, with 886 = 7*(100 - 1) + 4*50 - 7.

My selection: 883 = (7 - 1)*(100 + 50 - 4) + 7  [2 off]
Best: 885 = (4 + 1)*(100 + 7) + 7*50


Round 4: T I N H I D O B A

I had HINT, INHABIT, and BANDIT; I knew from past experience that BANDITO was not listed.

INHABIT is the only seven.  The other sixes are OBTAIN, TAHINI, BIOTIN (also known as vitamin H), and BHINDI (another name for okra).

My selection: INHABIT


Round 5: A I E N S L U D C

A good-looking set of letters, which I was not able to use to their full potential.  I had ANISE, ALIENS, DUALISE (not valid, it turns out; fortunately it was not my choice) / AUDILES (AUDILE: "Psychology someone in whose mind auditory images are especially distinct"), and UNLACED.  After time I noted SLUICED and CANDLES as other sevens.

There is a nine here: DULCINEAS (DULCINEA: "a ladylove; a sweetheart").  The eights are DULCINEA, INCLUDES / NUCLIDES (NUCLIDE: "an atomic species which is characterised by its mass number, atomic number, and energy state"), LUNACIES, and UNSCALED.  Perhaps surprisingly, the Macquarie does not have UNSLICED.

My selection: AUDILES
Best: DULCINEAS


Round 6: Target 302 from 100 25 75 3 10 5

The standard method works easily enough here; I went with 302 = 3*100 + 10/5.

My selection: 302 = 3*100 + 10/5


Round 7: I M D O E S F A L

I had DOME, DOMES, FOAMIES (as found by David in episode 442, FOAMIE is "a surfboard made from plastic foam"), and MISLEAD / MISDEAL.

The other sevens are MELOIDS (MELOID being another name for the blister beetle), MEDIALS (MEDIAL: "a medial linguistic element", where that second sense of "medial" is "within a word or syllable; neither initial nor final"), and AMIDOLS (AMIDOL being a certain chemical).

My selection: MISLEAD


Round 8: Target 293 from 4 2 8 3 1 5

Another one that I struggled with; it was tempting to take 8*5*4*2 = 320 as a starting point.  The offset is 27, which does not play quite as well as one would like with what is left.  It sufficed for two away with 291 = 4*8*(2*5 - 1) + 3, though.  Then I considered 280 as a possible intermediate value; that is 7*40, and the offset of 13 is 7*2 - 1.  That gives a potential solution of 7*42 - 1 if it can be made to work out, and happily that is the case: 293 = (4 + 3)*(5*8 + 2) - 1.  Phew!

There is only one other solution, making this as 288 + 5.  I should have noticed that -- 288 has lots of useful small factors, making it quite helpful, and indeed it works out handily: 293 = 8*4*3*(2 + 1) + 5.

My selection: 293 = (4 + 3)*(5*8 + 2) - 1


Round 9: INSANE DOC

My selection: [N/A -- chosen]
Best: CANONISED