NG 840

New game 840 is now available.

The re-run is episode 198; its rounds are here and its writeup is here.


Round 1: A S M B H N W I E

I had a dubious BAMS (not valid), SHAM, IAMBS (IAMB: "a metrical foot of two syllables, a short followed by a long [...]"), MASHIE (a type of golf club), rightly rejected MEANISH, and WHINES.  After time I noted another six of BANISH.

The two sevens that could be had here are HAEMINS (HAEMIN: "a chloride salt of haematin [...]") and WAHINES (WAHINE: "a Maori woman, especially a wife or girlfriend").

My selection: MASHIE
Best: WAHINES


Round 2: O S A U N T P S U

I had NOUS / ONUS, AUNTS, was rightly dubious about OUTSPANS (it is in the Scrabble list, but not in the Macquarie), SUNSPOT, and PANTOS.

The other seven is UNSTOPS.  The other sixes are UNSTOP, SNOUTS, SPOUTS / STOUPS (STOUP: "a basin for holy water, as at the entrance of a church"), TAUONS, and STUPAS (STUPA: "a monumental pile of earth or other material, either dome-shaped or pyramidal, in memory of the Buddha or a Buddhist saint, and commemorating some event or marking a sacred spot").

My selection: SUNSPOT


Round 3: Target 860 from 75 5 7 5 8 1

The nearby multiple of 75 is 900, and the offset of 40 is reasonably easy to come by: 860 = (7 + 5)*75 - 5*8.

My selection: 860 = (7 + 5)*75 - 5*8


Round 4: A A O A N L D F R

I had LOAN, LORAN ("a long-range radionavigation position fixing system using the time difference of reception of pulse type transmissions from two or more fixed stations"), FLORA, and FARAD.

The sixes here are ANODAL and FARAND (variant spelling of FARRAND: "having a specific nature or appearance").  The other fives are ADORN / RADON, FROND, and NODAL.

My selection: FLORA
Best: ANODAL


Round 5: I E T R Q O U G R

I had RITE, QUOTE, QUOTER, and GROUTER (colloquial for "an unfair advantage").

GROUTIER is not listed, so seven is the best to be done; the other seven is GOUTIER.  The other sixes are GOITRE / GOITER, RIGOUR, GORIER, OUTRIG, TORQUE / ROQUET ("(Mallet sports) to cause one's ball to strike (another player's ball)"), RIOTER, ROUTER / TOURER, ROGUER (by abuse of the single-syllable rule for adjectives), and TURGOR ("the state of being swelled or filled out").

My selection: GROUTER


Round 6: Target 254 from 25 100 75 8 6 10

This turned out to be rather harder than I expected.  I wrote down a fallback two away 256 = 10*25 + 6, then managed to improve that to one away just before time ran out with 255 = 100 + 8*10 + 75.

After time I stumbled upon the idea of making 300 as 75*100/25, and then saw that I could tweak that to a solution: 254 = (100/25)*(75 - 10) - 6.

My selection: 255 = 100 + 8*10 + 75  [1 off]
Best: 254 = (100/25)*(75 - 10) - 6


Round 7: S T E O B H O E C

I had TOES, THOSE, BOOTHS, SOOTHE, HOBOES (both HOBOS and HOBOES are listed as acceptable plurals, it turns out), ECHOES, BOOTEES, and BOTCHES.  After time I noted another six of BEHEST.

BOOTEES and BOTCHES are the only sevens.  The other sixes are ETCHES, CHOOSE, COOEES, and BOOTEE.

My selection: BOTCHES


Round 8: Target 999 from 50 100 7 9 6 8

My first thought was to try for 9*111, but that ended up being too difficult.  Casting about for other ways to get near, I hit upon getting to 1050 with 7*150, and found that I could produce the offset of 51 as 7*6 + 9.  Putting the tweak together gave 999 = 7*(100 + 50 - 6) - 9.

There are three other solutions: 999 = 7*100 + 6*50 - (9  - 8), 999 = (100 + 50 + 8 + 7)*6 + 9, and 999 = 9*(100 + 7) + 50 - 8 - 6.

My selection: 999 = 7*(100 + 50 - 6) - 9


Round 9: MAYOR GRIT

I got lost on this one, not finding anything useful from the -ITY or -ARY endings.

My selection: [no answer]
Best: MIGRATORY