Well done Sri Gutta! Loved that you highlighted India’s Republic Day 🇮🇳👏🏼 Many moments where the host engages with Sri differently to everyone else on the show… Can’t help but think it’s to do with race. Terribly sad and frustrating to see, especially as a fellow Indian.
In the first letters round, there was an acceptable five spelled out right in the middle: GOEST. It's archaic, but it's in the dictionary. Two more sixes are STOGIE and GIGOTS, to use some of those G's. In the second round, another six was FIASCO, but there was a seven in MAFIOSO. In the third round, VAINEST and NATIVES were two more sevens, and SALTINE is in the Oxford Dictionary (at least online), which I wasn't expecting. In the fourth round, HURRAYED was there for eight. In the first numbers round, I factored the target (67 x 2^3 = 536) for this solution: 25 - 10 = 15 15 x 4 = 60 60 + 7 = 67 67 x 8 = 536 In the sixth round, I'm surprised I wasn't scooped. I thought Susie would go for the obvious eight in LANDMINE. In the seventh round, OUTDREW is also there for seven (i.e. attracted a larger crowd or, in Wild West terms, drew a gun faster than your opponent). In the eighth round, the schoolhouse term-of-art TARDIES was there and so was DISRATE (to lower in rank in the Navy) both for seven, and an anagram of READIEST is STEADIER. In the ninth round, I also got INVENTORS after two ten-letter false starts in "introverts" and "inventions". ENVIRONS is there for eight. In the second numbers round, I had a more round-the-houses method that used all the numbers: 8 + 6 = 14 14 x 9 = 126 10 / 2 = 5 6 - 5 = 1 126 + 1 = 127 In the eleventh round, two more eights were STIPENDS and TOPSIDES. In the twelfth round, NUPTIAL and PANTILE were also there for seven. In the last letters round, there are some improvements on six with SULCATE and SUBACUTE. Sulcate is a botanical term for "marked by parallel grooves" and subacute is a medical term for conditions that are somewhere between acute and chronic in their severity. I did the final numbers round in the opposite way, subtracting 3 from 75: 75 - 3 = 72 72 x 10 = 720 720 + 50 = 770 770 - 1 = 769
Between Autumn 2001 and Spring 2013, there were 11 letters games and 3 numbers games: LLLLNLLLLNLLLNC Now there are 10 letters games and 4 numbers games: LLNLLNLLNLLLLNC