***A special notice from Car Talk Plaza*** As you might have heard, the Puzzler was on holiday this past week -- skiing in Aspen. Or skating in Holland. Or tanning under an assumed identity in Jamaica.
To be honest, we're not entirely sure. However, we do know this: The Puzzler will be back next week -- fresh, rested and ready for 2005! In the meantime, if you haven't solved the current Car Talk puzzler, have another go at it: ******* 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: A Most Curious Array of Breakdowns RAY: James Oliver from Portland, Oregon, sent this puzzler to us. I'm not going to change too much. He seems to have grasped the essence of the obfuscatory narrative. TOM: Great! All your work is done. You just read it. RAY: His introductory note says, "This is a true story." And, then in parentheses, he says, "Within the limits usually considered reasonable for puzzler content." He writes, "I drive a 13-year-old pickup truck, with over 220,000 miles on it. One sunny August afternoon I was cruising south on the freeway at about 75 miles per hour. After I got about five miles out of town, I saw a plume of smoke on the horizon. Traffic suddenly came to a dead stop, and a state trooper and TV news truck drove past me on the shoulder. For the next several hours, I sat in stop-and-go traffic, mostly stopped, with cars just inching forward and then stopping. "The dog day sun was shining through the front windshield of my truck, but a nice breeze from the west was keeping the temperature in the cab bearable. After several hours, I saw two very large SUVs on the left shoulder. Both had their hoods up. In the right shoulder I saw a moving van and a large pickup towing a boat. Both the van and the pickup had their hoods up. About 50 feet further was a fancy German sedan, an Audi I think, with its hood up. "I continued to see vehicles on the shoulders with their hoods up for several hours, until we passed firefighters mopping up a brushfire, and traffic got back up to speed. Hours had gone by, by this time. I spotted the driver of the German sedan walking on the side of the road, so I asked him about his car. He told me that the engine just stopped and would not restart. He turned the key, and it was dead as a doornail. "I ask him one other question, and he answered, "Yes." It turns out that the other vehicles had the same problem. "Why did the engines stop in all these vehicles? "Here's a hint: My pickup didn't have this problem." Think you know? 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 Prisoners, the Warden and the Hats RAY: This is from my, "The Prisoners, the Warden and the Hats," series. It was sent in by David Young. Here it is: The warden admits three prisoners into his chambers. He tells them, "One of you fellas is going to have a chance to get out. Here's the deal. "I'm going to blindfold all of you, then I'm going to put hats on your heads. I have three white hats and two black hats. Each of you is going to get a hat. You have to figure out which color hat you have to get released." He blindfolds them and puts a hat on each prisoner. They're led out of the room in single file. When the blindfolds are removed, the guy in the back can see the two people in front of him, the guy in the middle can see the one guy in front of him, and the guy in front can't see anybody. TOM: They can't turn around? They have to walk around the prison in this order? RAY: Right. And they walk around the prison, stopping outside the warden's office. The warden says to the fellow in back, who can see the two people in front of him, and their hats, "Can you tell me what color your hat is?" Don't forget, there are three white hats and two black hats available. The fellow in back says nothing. He doesn't know. The fellow in the middle is asked the same question. He is unable to answer. The guy in the very front, who can see no hats, knows. He says, "I can identify the color of my hat." Think you know what color hat the front prisoner is wearing, and how he figured it out? Here's the answer: 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 ******************* USEFUL INFORMATION ALERT: Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit that lobbies against environmental causes? Check out Better World Club. It's an auto club with genuinely decent values-- unlike some others we could name... whose initials happen to be AAA. Better World Club cares about... *Your environmental interests--it gives 1% of its revenue to environmental clean up and advocacy. *Your consumer interests--it even has discounts on hybrid rental cars. *And, it has the nation's only bicycle roadside assistance program. Dump your AAA membership and join Better World! If you join via the Car Talk web site, you'll even get an extra month's membership. Check out Better World Club now 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.
