NG 843

New game 843 is now available.

I'm ludicrously far behind on the writeups -- ended up getting involved in a lot of other things instead.  I'll aim to catch up eventually, and resume the new games also.



Round 1: F E R U I A D H T

I had FIRE, FIRED, a dubious HAIRED (not valid), rightly rejected REAUDIT, FATHER, and also rightly rejected FAITHER and FAITHED.  Somewhat after time I finally spotted the seven of FRUITED.

FRUITED is the only seven, and the best to be done.

My selection: FATHER
Best: FRUITED


Round 2: E I B I T T D S E

I had BITE, BITTED, TIDIEST / DITTIES, DEITIES, and BETIDES.  I also wondered about SIDEBET, but later checking confirmed that it was only listed as two words.

The remaining seven here is TIDBITS.

My selection: DEITIES


Round 3: Target 856 from 50 75 3 9 8 9

The target is 8*107, and a little experimentation produced 856 = (75 + 50 - 9 - 9)*8.  I then looked at the standard method, finding the alternative option of 856 = (9 + 8)*50 + 9 - 3.

My selection: 856 = (75 + 50 - 9 - 9)*8


Round 4: A R E I O G T W N

I had OGRE, TRIAGE, TOWERING, and WATERING.

The other eight is TWANGIER*.  There's various sevens, of which I'll just mention TEARING / INGRATE, WEARING, ORATING, and TAWNIER / TINWARE.

My selection: TOWERING


Round 5: U R O C O S A F K

Bleah, an unpleasant mix.  I had SCOUR and FROCKS.

The other sixes are CROAKS, CROOKS, and KOURAS (KOURA being a type of crayfish).

My selection: FROCKS


Round 6: Target 240 from 100 1 10 3 6 4

I went with the simple 240 = 4*6*10 and left it at that.

My selection: 240 = 4*6*10


Round 7: R L O N S E T I O

I had LORN, ENROLS, TENORS, ORIENTS, EROSION, LOTIONS, LOONIEST, and OILSTONE ("a fine-grained whetstone whose rubbing surface is lubricated with oil").

The other eights are SNOOTIER, RETINOLS, and OESTRIOL.

My selection: OILSTONE


Round 8: Target 136 from 75 25 100 50 2 7

The offsets for the standard method are 11 and 14, with the latter being 2*7.  That quickly leads to 136 = 100 + 50 - 2*7, and then I saved a number with 136 = 2*(75 - 7).

My selection: 136 = 2*(75 - 7)


Round 9: MATH DUNCE

The UN- and -ED fragments go well together, and there was not much left after that.

My selection: UNMATCHED (1.6s)