Monday, April 14, 2025

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This Week's Puzzler

The Rock In The Road


Time for the new puzzler. This one is kind of automotive in nature. Less math than last week, so that's good. 

Here we go.

Many years ago, our pal Crusty was driving to what was to be his wedding ceremony up in the wilds of Maine. 

He's driving along this lonely unimproved country road filled with dirt and potholes. And while driving along, he drifts into a state of euphoria thinking about the marital bliss that awaits him.

So there he is. He's driving along and he's daydreaming, and in this state of euphoria, and all of a sudden he hits a rock in the road, a big rock. It tears open his gas tank.

He gets out of the car, runs to the back and says, "Oh, fudge!" And he realizes that gasoline is pouring out at such a rate that he's never going to make it to the wedding, and he knows if he doesn't make it, she's not going to hang around. She will call the whole thing off. If he doesn't get there on time, he's done for. She will have an extra few minutes to think about it, and she will call the whole thing off. 

So he opens the trunk to figure out some way to get himself out of this problem. He starts pulling out everything in the trunk. He's got another transmission in there, starter motor, raccoon coat with the raccoon still in it, and he there's this tool kit.

He looks down again. He sees the gas pouring out. He realizes that in five minutes, he's going to be done for, absolutely done for.

He runs to the front of the car, throws open the hood, and with a few tools in his hand, in a few minutes, maybe even less, he yanks something off under the hood.

A minute later, he's driving away and makes it to the wedding on time.

Now he didn't yank out the fuel pump, nor did he yank out the carburetor. Those are two hints. He yanked out something, removes a part, closes the hood and a few minutes later he is on his way.

What did he do to make it to his wedding on time?

Good luck. 
Answer the Puzzler »
Remember last week's puzzler?

Deep Cut


Puzzler time. 

This is a deep cut, my friends. Only the most hardcore Car Talk fans will get this. 

Here it is.

This was sent in many years ago from a listener who was vacationing in Europe. 

He said this:

"While driving around Luxembourg on a trip to Europe, I caught a glimpse of a billboard that immediately brought Car Talk to mind. The billboard was brightly colored with a cartoon like a pig on the bottom. But it wasn't just a pig that brought Car Talk to mind. Across the center of the sign was written an equation.

D equals V over 10, squared. The whole thing divided by two. So V over 10, squared. Divide V by 10. Square it. Divide that whole thing by two.

Remembering a discussion on the show of several years ago, I immediately knew what this was all about."

And the puzzler question is, what was it about?
Find out here »
Congratulations to this week's
puzzler winner:

 Dylan Dincer
Newton, MA
Congratulations! This correct answer was chosen at random by our Web Lackeys.

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