NG 838

New game 838 is now available.

The re-run is episode 196; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: F H I T E R E O R

I had THIEF, HEFTIER, was dubious about FOTHERER, and happy to replace it with FROTHIER.  As expected, FOTHERER is not listed, although FOTHER is.  To FOTHER is "to stop a leak in a wooden hull by covering it with a sail or tarpaulin containing a thrumming of rope yarns and oakum"; interestingly, this noun sense of THRUMMING is not listed in the Macquarie, nor anywhere else that I can find it.  The associated verb sense of THRUM is given as "Nautical to insert short pieces of rope yarn through (canvas) and thus give it a rough surface".

The other eight here is the unexpected (to me) THEREFOR ("Archaic for that or this; for it").  The other sevens are THEREOF, FERRITE, HERITOR (variant form of INHERITOR), and ROTIFER (a type of microscopic animalcule).

My selection: FROTHIER


Round 2: H G T I T R O A I

I had TIGHT, RIGHT, wished that last vowel had been another A for AGITATOR, ARIGHT, THORIA, and AIRTIGHT.

AIRTIGHT is the only eight, and there are not sevens.  The other sixes are THROAT and RIGHTO.

My selection: AIRTIGHT


Round 3: Target 941 from 75 100 25 10 4 1

An offset of 9 for the standard method obviously comes from 10 - 1, but it does not seem to be possible to get to 950 with the remaining numbers.  I looked at working down from 975, then 1000, and got to one away with 940 = 10*(100 - 1) - (75 - 25).  Then it finally occurred to me that an offset of 41 could be made as 4*10 + 1, and a tweak finished it off: 941 = 10*(100 + 4) + 1 - (75 + 25).

There is a trivial variation of that solution from swapping 100 and (75 + 25); aside from that there is only one other solution: 941 = (100 + 25 + 1)*75 / 10 - 4.

My selection: 941 = 10*(100 + 4) + 1 - (75 + 25)


Round 4: C M O E B E N R M

I had COME, COMB, BECOME, and MEMBER.  This mix really needed an A to free things up, with BROMANCE being an option in that case.  The next vowel was an I, but that would have given MICROBE.

Six is the limit here, with the others being ENCORE, ENROBE, COMBER, MERMEN, and MOREEN ("a heavy fabric of wool, or wool and cotton, commonly watered, used for curtains, petticoats, etc.").

My selection: BECOME


Round 5: I E B E E L R A S

I had BELIE, REBEL, BAILERS, SERIAL, and REALISE.

The other sevens in this mix are RELEASE, BELIERS, and BAILEES.

My selection: REALISE


Round 6: Target 379 from 25 50 5 3 7 6

The standard method easily solves this one, leading to 379 = 5*(50 + 25) + 7 - 3.  Working up from 7*50 also makes sense; this could lead to either 379 = 7*50 + 25 + 3 + 6 - 5, or (the option I saw within time) the tweak of 379 = 7*(50 + 5) - 6.

My selection: 379 = 7*(50 + 5) - 6


Round 7: E E S W A T G C O

I had WEES, WASTE, SEWAGE (seems like a bit of a theme so far!), and GOATEES.  I also saw ECOTAGE (ecological sabotage) and ECOTAGES, but recalled that the Macquarie does not list ECOTAGE.

The other sevens are STOWAGE ("a charge for stowing something") / TOWAGES (TOWAGE: "a charge for towing"), COWAGES (COWAGE being a plant), and ACETOSE (variant spelling of ACETOUS: "sour; vinegary").

My selection: GOATEES


Round 8: Target 268 from 25 2 7 1 4 5

The target is 275 - 7, so it's time for the standard method again: 268 = (5 + 4 + 2)*25 - 7.

My selection: 268 = (5 + 4 + 2)*25 - 7


Round 9: HARK SANTA

A possibly obscure conundrum; my apologies if so.  The answer is ASTRAKHAN, which is a type of cloth.  Also a hat worn by Canadian military, although the Macquarie does not mention that; it was this latter sense that I was thinking of when I chose it after being presented with a similar set of letters by my conundrum generator.

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