Monday, October 9, 2023

Precautions

New puzzler time. Just in time for the end of summer.

Here it is. This is from a while ago. Back in the 1990s.

I was going on a trip at the beginning of January and I parked my car at the bus station. The weather forecast was bitter cold and I was worried about starting my car when I returned.

I didn't have any of that fancy engine heater or special oil, but I did take one precaution.

When I returned from my trip five days later, the area had been suffering from five straight days of sub-zero temperatures. Yet when I turned the key, my engine roared to life to the surprise of all the other people in the parking lot whose engines wouldn't start.

They were all stunned. What precaution did I take that allowed my engine to start so quickly?

Remember, this happened a while ago now. So this wasn't a fancy EV or anything like that. Just a good old regular car.

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

A Travel Request

Time for the new puzzler. Here you go.

Back in the day, a long time ago, when the British were colonizing the rest of the world, one of their territories was India. They colonized the whole world but India was one of the last places that they relinquished.

At that time, British upper-crust people would travel by boat, because that was the only mode of transportation, from England to their colony in India. And when they would buy their tickets on this huge boat, they would demand a certain type of stateroom for the voyage. They would demand this of the ticket agents.

And those who were in the know always insisted on having a compartment that was on the left or port side of the ship on the way to India. But on the return trip, on the way back, they would demand to be on the other side of the ship. The starboard or right side.

So, out of this strange travel request, a word was invented.

When they left England they wanted to travel on the port side as they went out of England, and as they came home, they wanted to travel on the starboard or the right side.

So, what word was invented by this travel request, and why?