******* The Car Talk Puzzler Psychic Friends Network******* A note from Car Talk Plaza: While the Puzzler enjoys a well-earned (okay, that's debatable) vacation, we'll be featuring a few of our especially scintillating, challenging and brain-achingly confounding classic puzzlers. We hope you enjoy them!
>From the Desk of Maury Maille Puzzler Tower Car Talk Plaza Hahvahd Squayah Our Fair City This Week's Classic Puzzler: Ray's Extra-Smart Scan Tool RAY: At our shop, we have a scan tool. This tool is designed to plug in under the dash or under the hood of the car and extract valuable information from the car's computer. TOM: So we can misdiagnose the problems! RAY: Exactly. Recently, we got a new piece of software for our scan tool. One of my guys had plugged the scan tool in, and was looking for readings that indicated a problem. For example, if it says the engine operating temperature is minus 40 degrees, you have some idea that there's something wrong with the engine's temperature sensor. He was scrolling down and looking at all the information, when he came to a reading that said, "air pressure low right, front tire." He said, "Huh?!" So, I walked around to the right front tire and sure enough -- the tire was almost flat and I said, "It's right." The question is, how did the scanning tool know that the right front tire was low on air? 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 Ray obfuscate the puzzler in person? Listen anytime, at http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/ ************ Remember last week's puzzler? How Much for Twelve? The Confounding House Number Puzzler. RAY: A man is waiting in line at a hardware store to buy letters that make up the number of his house. You know. For example -- TOM: T, H, R, E, E. RAY: Right. But, by luck, there were three other guys ahead of him in line all doing the same thing. The first customer buys the number one. O, N, E. He pays two bucks. The next guy buys the number TWO, and pays three bucks. The third guy buys the number ELEVEN, and he pays five bucks. Our protagonist is buying the number twelve. Here's the question: how much does he pay? And 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 *************** Write Tom and Ray--Please! Been meaning to write us a witty, brilliant, evocative, insightful letter? Excellent! We're not getting any of those things from the chumps hanging around Car Talk Plaza. For that matter, we'd settle for anything better than the usual schlock Tommy reads on the air. So, what are you waiting for? Write Tom and Ray right now at http://www.cartalk.com/email/email.html ******************* Useful information alert: How to Get a Free Car Talk CD or Booklet Tired of paying auto club dues to an outfit that lobbies against environmental causes? Check out Better World Club--and in the process get a Car Talk booklet or CD for free! Better World is 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 offers 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 now, you'll get a free Car Talk CD, or a copy of our booklet, 10 Ways You May Be Ruining Your Car without Even Knowing It. 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.
