******* The Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network******* >From The Desk Of
Maury Maille Puzzler Tower Car Talk Plaza Hahvahd Squayah Our Fair City This Week's Puzzler: Playing Cards With Ray RAY: We're going to play a little card game. I'm going to deal out 21 cards from an ordinary deck of cards to a pile in front of us. We're going to alternate taking cards from the pile. Here are the rules: When it's your turn, you can take as many as three cards, but you must take at least one. So, you can take one , two, or three cards from the pile. The winner of the game is whoever picks up the last card, or cards, from the table. For example, if there are six cards left and I pick up three, you will pick up the last three, because we're alternating turns, and you would win. So, clearly if there were six cards left, I wouldn't take three. The question is, is there a strategy you could use that would guarantee you would win? Got an answer? Drop us a note via http://www.cartalk.com/email/email.html If you're right and we select your answer, we'll ship you a $26 Shameless Commerce Gift Certificate. Want to listen to Raymond obfuscate the puzzler in person? Listen anytime, at http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/ ************ Remember last week's puzzler? The Morris Minor that Could RAY: The inspiration for this puzzler was sent in by Jerry Olhaver. I've done a little obfuscation and declarification. The scene is some miles out on Cape Cod. It's late summer of '54, the day after a hurricane had altered the landscape. The hero of our puzzler is a Morris Minor...remember the Morris Minor? It was the great-grandfather of the modern Mini. Jerry's problem came with the tidal surge on parts of the Cape Cod peninsula caused by the storm. Yachts and working boats had been swept miles from the marinas, and actually left in fields! Only National Guards trucks and jeeps, big mainland wreckers, and a few rubbernecking cars were moving on the roads. Every other set of wheels still on the roads looked drowned. They wouldn't start, wouldn't run, and were waiting for a tow truck. It was an uncertain future, too. You never know what's going to happen when your car gets drowned. Enter our hero, pedaling his bicycle. He spots his Morris Minor, looking as drowned as all the rest. But, at least the four tires are on the pavement. He tries to start the engine unsuccessfully. It cranks, but won't fire up. He opens the hood and removes the spark plugs. They're soaked with gasoline. He realizes why they're soaked, because when he takes the distributor cap off, it's full of water. He realizes that he's done for. Yet, in less than 10 minutes, unaided and using only what he had on his bicycle, and in the trunk of the car, he begins a successful drive across the peninsula. How did he do it? TOM: He called a cab. R: No. How did he begin and complete his drive, even though his ignition was soaked, the plugs were soaking wet and he had just a handful of little tools. He didn't have much going for him here! What did he do? Ready for the answer? Here you go! http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/ So, did you figure it out? Yours in weekly puzzler torment, Maury Maille Puzzler Dissemination Specialist Car Talk Plaza ******************* Doing some car research? Via our lousy, little homepage you can... *Check important safety recalls *See what your car is worth right now *Check rebates and incentives on new cars *Search your town for new or used cars for sale *Place an ad to sell your car that'll actually be seen by people in your area *Research and compare new vehicles *Get the latest car news *Kill time until 5:00 p.m. rolls around and you can pack it in. *It's all at http://www.cartalk.com *********************************** Got more time to kill? This past weekend's new, lousy Car Talk show is now on the web site, at http://www.cartalk.com/Radio/Show/ ******************** Help Ray lose the night sweats he's been getting, trying to come up with a decent puzzler each week. E-mail him your suggestion any time, via http://www.cartalk.com/email/email.html ******************** Puzzled out? You can unsubscribe to the Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network anytime at http://www.cartalk.com/ct/maillist.jsp?puzzler_list=subscribe#psychic We'll forgive you.
