NG 839

New game 839 is now available.

The re-run is episode 197; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: O T D C E E E R T

I had CODE, ERECTED, and DETECTOR.

DETECTOR is the only eight.  The other seven is TETRODE ("a radio valve containing four electrodes [...]").  The sixes are DETECT, ROTTED / DOTTER, RECEDE / DECREE, COTTED ("(of wool) having become partially felted or matted whilst on the sheep's back"), COTTER ("a pin, wedge, key, or the like, fitted or driven into an opening in order to secure something or hold parts together"), TEETER / TERETE ("cylindrical or slightly tapering"), RETTED (RET: "to expose to moisture or soak in water, as flax, in order to soften by partial rotting"), TERCET ("Prosody a group of three lines rhyming together, or connected by rhyme with the adjacent group or groups of three"), and TEREDO ("a shipworm (genus Teredo)").

My selection: DETECTOR


Round 2: F E L E N C K I F

I had FLEE, FENCE, and NICKEL.  After time I noted other sixes of FICKLE and FELINE.

That turns out to be all the sixes listed.  The other fives are NIECE, CLIFF, KNIFE, LIKEN / INKLE ("a kind of linen tape"), KNEEL, FLICK, FLECK, CLINK, ELFIN, ICKLE ("(humorous) little; small"), CLINE ("a continuous, graded variation in members of a species across a wide geographical or ecological range"), and CLEEK ("a golf club having an iron head with a long, narrow face").

My selection: NICKEL


Round 3: Target 522 from 100 9 3 10 10 3

When I looked at working down from 600, I noticed that the offset of 78 was 6*13.  That then gave me an easy tweaked solution: 522 = (9 - 3)*(100 - 10 - 3).  This turns out to be the only solution.

My selectionL 522 = (9 - 3)*(100 - 10 - 3)


Round 4: T S A I N A N N P

I had STAIN and PATINAS.

The other sevens here are TANNINS and TAIPANS / PIÑATAS.

My selection: PATINAS


Round 5: I L R S O Y P O T

I had ROILS, POORLY, SPORTILY, and TROOPS.  After time I checked up on POLOIST, which is valid.

I was pleased about SPORTILY, but it turns out that the Macquarie does not list it.  Bother!  The eights that it does have are POROSITY / ISOTROPY ("the state or property of being isotropic"; here ISOTROPIC is "Physics having one or more properties that are the same in all directions").

The other sevens are TOPSOIL, SOOTILY, PROSILY, and ISOTOPY ("isotopic character", where ISOTOPIC is the adjective derived from ISOTOPE: "any of two or more forms of a chemical element, having the same number of protons in the nucleus and, hence, the same atomic number, but having different numbers of neutrons in the nucleus and, hence, different atomic weights [...]").

My selection: [invalid -- SPORTILY]
Best: POROSITY


Round 6: Target 429 from 25 7 5 8 4 10

Definitely time for the standard method, giving 429 = (10 + 70*25 + 4.  The target factors easily as 3*11*13, and after time I noted another solution based on this observation: 429 = (5*4 - 7)*(25 + 8).

My selection: 429 = (10 + 7)*25 + 4


Round 7: R A E N L S E M I

I had EARN, LEARN, LEARNS, wondered about LEANERS (not valid), MARINES / SEMINAR, and MINERALS.  I knew that was the best to be done due to an old post about a Countdown episode that noted that the only letters that extend MINERALS to a nine spell GOUT; for some reason that has stuck with me.

The other eights are MEASLIER, MARLINES (MARLINE: "a small cord of two loosely twisted strands, used for seizing"), and ALMERIES* (ALMERY being listed as a variant of AMBRY: "a cupboard; dresser").

My selection: MINERALS


Round 8: Target 929 from 75 4 2 7 8 5

The nearest multiple of 75 is 900, which is 12*75.  I first thought to make the 12 as 7 + 5, then realised that this would use up all my odd numbers.  I switched to using 8 + 4, then saw that a tweak got me home: 929 = (8 + 4)*(75 + 2) + 5.

My selection: 929 = (8 + 4)*(75 + 2) + 5


Round 9: MILL TORSO

This is an interesting word, althoug possibly a bit too obscure, like last game.  Apologies!  Once I considered ROOM as a fragment, the answer of STILLROOM seemed too likely to ignore.  It turned out to be the answer, and means "in large houses, originally the room containing a still for the production of perfumes, cordials, etc., and subsequently the room used as a storeroom by the housekeeper".

My selection: STILLROOM (11.2s)