----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, June 04, 2003 2:38
PM
Subject: Puzzler of the week
This week's puzzler:
It was a dark, moonless
night in France, 1943, deep within German-held territory. Out of the inky
shadows comes Claudette, the beautiful French resistance fighter, followed
by three downed Allied crew members, who she must get back into friendly
hands. They must cross a bridge, and they know the Germans are not far
behind. It's an old, treacherous bridge, and they have only one flashlight
among them to see. The bridge can support only two of them at a time. Three
on the bridge, and it's curtains.
Pairs crossing can do so only as
quickly as the slower member of the pair, because they need the flashlight
to see. Each time a pair crosses, someone has to return with the flashlight,
until they're all safely across.
Unfortunately, the three downed
airmen are injured. Here are the times each person takes to cross the
bridge: Claudette can do it in a minute. Major Johnson has a twisted ankle,
and takes 2 minutes. Captain Kangaroo got shot up pretty bad. He has to hop
on one foot, and it takes him 5 minutes. Colonel Mustard is in worse shape.
It takes him 10 minutes to cross the bridge.
Claudette has rigged the
bridge with explosives so that their pursuers can't follow. She's about to
set the timer."
Here's the puzzler: What's the shortest time she can
set and get everyone safely across the bridge before it blows
up?
Last week's puzzler:
It was an early fall evening,
when my wife drove our '94 Explorer. About three blocks from home, it
started making a great screeching, screaming noise, with smoke coming out
from under the hood. My wife turned off the car, and, of course, called me
for help.
I was home in my jammies, but I got in my car and drove
over there. Being the guy, I was obliged to open the hood, and I tried to
look for something wrong...even though it was dark. It was, after all, a
dark and stormy night.
On a hunch, I reached in and touched something
that should have been cool. Instead of touching something cool, though, I
got a second-degree burn on my finger. Wounded and whimpering, I walked
home, while my wife continued her trip in my car, leaving the Explorer
smoking and smoldering by the roadside.
After putting ice on my
finger, the pain subsided enough so that I could think straight. I walked
back to the Explorer. I adjusted something on the dashboard, started the
engine, and drove home with no problems.
So, what did I
do?
Last week's puzzler answer:
I turned off the
defroster because what was wrong was that the air-conditioner compressor had
seized.
Lots of people don't know that most modern cars only have one
belt that runs everything, and the air-conditioner pulley is turning all the
time, whether the air conditioner is on or off. When you turn it on, you
engage a magnetic clutch that makes the pulley that's spinning via the belt
turn the compressor. But if the compressor is seized, the pulley can no
longer turn and the belt will begin to screech and slip around that seized
pulley-- and cause smoke and eventually fire.
If you turn off the air
conditioner that compressor pulley will just go back to freewheeling because
the magnetic clutch is disengaged.
The reason the thing was hot
enough to burn his finger, was because the defroster was on and that belt
was screeching over that seized pulley. Then, as soon as he turned off the
defroster, the belt stopped screeching.
Don't forget, it was a dark
and stormy night and the windows were probably getting fogged up, so you
would turn on the defroster-- which on most cars also turns on the air
conditioner. But, turning off the air conditioner would also be an
acceptable answer.
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