Pulsing Brakes

Time for the new puzzler.

This one is definitely automotive in nature.

Here we go.

Years ago, a guy walked into the shop with a Volvo. The guy complains of a strong pulsing in his brake pedal when he applies the brakes.

The mechanic looks over the car and finds that the front disc brake rotors are warped.

The mechanic installs new ones and sends the fellow off on his way.

Well, 5000 miles later, the same car owner comes back to the shop and complains that the pulsing is back.

The mechanic is suspicious because he knows his work on the car was excellent.

The mechanic asks the owner a few questions to try to get to the bottom of the issue.

Do you ride the brake? Have you tightened your lug nuts with a high powered air wrench? Have you bought new tires?

The owner answers no to all these questions.

The mechanic is at a loss and replaces the warped rotors again.

After another 1000 miles, the guy comes back with the exact same problem.

This time, the mechanic asks straight up, what the heck he's doing to the car that could be causing this problem, knowing that there's nothing wrong with the parts and nothing wrong with the installation. This should not be happening.

And the fellow says, "I don't know. I go on a lot of long car trips, and it's always the day after I arrive home from these trips that I start feeling the pulsing. But it never happens during the long time, only on the day after."

The mechanic asks him one question. And then he knows the answer to the puzzle.

What question did the mechanic ask?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Strips of Brass

Here we go.

Years ago, I was doing a little shopping and running my little errands in our little village, so to speak, downtown in our fair city.

And as you might expect, I was going from one business establishment to another, opening doors, closing doors, going in, transacting business, like you do when you're shopping.

One of the places I entered upon opening the door, I was surprised to see something affixed to the door that I had just opened.

Attached to the door were three brass strips. They were about four inches long and a half an inch high, and they were nice and shiny. And each was affixed with two little screws to this wooden door.

So as I opened the door to this establishment, I find myself looking right at one of these strips, which would put one of them at right at eye level with me. One was about six inches higher than that, and one was six inches below it.

And I thought, "Hmm, that's unusual."

I went to another place of business and opened its door and saw no such little strips on the door. So I went back to this first place, and I looked at the door I had first entered. But another door in that establishment had these three little brass bars attached too. They were horizontal strips of brass.

And the puzzler question is, what was this building that I had entered that had this on the door?

Find out here »

Congratulations to this week's
puzzler winner:

Nico R
New York

Congratulations! This correct answer was chosen at random by our Web Lackeys.

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Monday, January 26, 2026

Can you solve this week's puzzler?

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Strips of Brass

Puzzler time.

Here we go.

Years ago, I was doing a little shopping and running my little errands in our little village, so to speak, downtown in our fair city.

And as you might expect, I was going from one business establishment to another, opening doors, closing doors, going in, transacting business, like you do when you're shopping.

One of the places I entered upon opening the door, I was surprised to see something affixed to the door that I had just opened.

Attached to the door were three brass strips. They were about four inches long and a half an inch high, and they were nice and shiny. And each was affixed with two little screws to this wooden door.

So as I opened the door to this establishment, I find myself looking right at one of these strips, which would put one of them at right at eye level with me. One was about six inches higher than that, and one was six inches below it.

And I thought, "Hmm, that's unusual."

I went to another place of business and opened its door and saw no such little strips on the door. So I went back to this first place, and I looked at the door I had first entered. But another door in that establishment had these three little brass bars attached too. They were horizontal strips of brass.

And the puzzler question is, what was this building that I had entered that had this on the door?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Inscriptions on Boxes

This one is a riddle from the olden days, as they say.

This comes from the days of knights and kings and fair maidens. So, forever ago.

Here it is.

In a kindgom far, far away, the fair maiden Rowena wishes to wed.

But her father, the Evil King, has devised a way to drive off her suitors.

He came up with a devious plan.

And here it is. It's very simple.

There are three boxes on the table. One is made of gold, one is made of silver, and the third is made lead.

Inside one of these boxes is a picture of the fair Princess Rowena. And it is the job of the knight to figure out which box has her picture in it, without opening any of the boxes. Whoever can figure this out, gets to marry the princess.

Now, as a hint, there are inscriptions on each of the boxes. And here they are.

On the gold box, the inscription says, "Rowena's picture is in this box."

On the silver box, the inscription says, "Rowena's picture is not in this box."

On the lead box, the inscription says, "Rowena's picture is not in the gold box."

And then the king gives the suitors a hint.

He says, "One of the statements, and only one, is true."

So the puzzler quesiton is, Where is the picture?