Monday, October 10, 2022

Can you solve this week's puzzler?

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This Week's Puzzler

Charming Balloon


Now it's time for our charming new puzzler. For lack of a better word, I guess I can call it charming, but you all be the judge. 

Here it is.

You have a balloon that is filled with air. Like a balloon, you'd get at the circus. You tie the knot with a string at the end, and you also tie a weight to the string. The purpose of the weight is because you're going to place the balloon in water, like a swimming pool, such that the weight will keep the balloon's top just even with the top of the water as we describe in geometry, tangential to the surface.

The entire balloon is submerged in the water, except for the very top. All right, and the weight is keeping the balloon from rising beyond the surface of the water. We can all imagine this would work right? Balloons want to float. If the weight were not there, or if you came by with your scissors and snipped the string, it would pop right up. 

For the sake of this puzzler, you don't have to know what the amount of the weight is. The weight of weight could be anything. It doesn't matter, for the sake of this puzzler. 

Okay now, you take your hand and push down on the balloon. You push it down all the way into the water, one foot down. So, when you push the balloon down one foot and of course, it will go down nice and smoothly as you push it down.

And then, when you take your hand away, what happens?

What happens and why?

Answer the Puzzler »
Remember last week's puzzler?

The Two Strokes


It is that time again everyone. Time for the new puzzler. 

Do you remember back in the old days the old Saab 95 or whatever it was. That thing had a three cylinder engine. It was a two stroke engine. Now some of you might not know this, but back then, at this time, the two stroke kind of fell out of favor for a lot of reasons. First of all, they were a little underpowered. Four stroke engines have valves and there are four strokes of the cycle which is required to complete revolutions of the crankshaft, and you only get one power stroke out of the four, the two stroke gets you power out of every two strokes, so the thoery is you have twice as much power. It doesn't really happen that way, but that is the theory.

Anyway, two stroke engines, they're inefficient, they're smoky, noisy and they're not environmentally friendly. Because they have to mix the gasoline and the oil and it's a pain in the neck. And in many cases, engines that had been two stroke engines eventually got replaced by the cleaner burning three stroke or four stroke engines. 

So in the past, Saabs, lawn mowers and mopeds were two stroke engines and they switched them to four stroke for all the reasons above. 

So here is the question. I have a chainsaw that is a two stroke chainsaw. You have to mix the gas and the oil and it's no fun. And the question is, why doesn't anyone make a four stroke chainsaw that uses gasoline? Lawn mowers have all been converted to four stroke engines, so why not the chainsaws?

Find out here »
Congratulations to this week's
puzzler winner:

Jim Kelly

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

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Thursday, October 6, 2022

Can you solve this week's puzzler?

View in browser »
This Week's Puzzler

The Two Strokes


It is that time again everyone. Time for the new puzzler. 

Do you remember back in the old days the old Saab 95 or whatever it was. That thing had a three cylinder engine. It was a two stroke engine. Now some of you might not know this, but back then, at this time, the two stroke kind of fell out of favor for a lot of reasons. First of all, they were a little underpowered. Four stroke engines have valves and there are four strokes of the cycle which is required to complete revolutions of the crankshaft, and you only get one power stroke out of the four, the two stroke gets you power out of every two strokes, so the thoery is you have twice as much power. It doesn't really happen that way, but that is the theory.

Anyway, two stroke engines, they're inefficient, they're smoky, noisy and they're not environmentally friendly. Because they have to mix the gasoline and the oil and it's a pain in the neck. And in many cases, engines that had been two stroke engines eventually got replaced by the cleaner burning three stroke or four stroke engines. 

So in the past, Saabs, lawn mowers and mopeds were two stroke engines and they switched them to four stroke for all the reasons above. 

So here is the question. I have a chainsaw that is a two stroke chainsaw. You have to mix the gas and the oil and it's no fun. And the question is, why doesn't anyone make a four stroke chainsaw that uses gasoline? Lawn mowers have all been converted to four stroke engines, so why not the chainsaws?

Answer the Puzzler »
Remember last week's puzzler?

The Full Rhino


Our new puzzler today was from a letter that was sent in. I love this one. It was so good, we decided to use it. This happened a while ago. It is long, so pay attention. Here goes. 

"My husband and I lived in Lagos, Nigeria, and worked at the American Embassy. We decided to drive to Timbuktu on vacation. We were cruising across the Sahara in summer and felt well qualified for this 3000-mile round trip. We had a 1987 Something, a Nissan Something, which was outfitted with lots of special things for desert travel. Full Rhino package, I think it's called. Oil coolers, sand trap, shovel, compass, air compressor, 12-volt refrigerator, tools, spare parts, water, food, guns, extra fuel, tires... The whole works. You get it.

We made it to Timbuktu without incident. The last few hundred miles were on an open desert with no road and with no other vehicle in sight. 

We spent two days in the city and then were heading home via a different route. We were about 100 miles from the nearest town when a louder than usual impact against the underside of the vehicle signaled the arrival of potential disaster. My husband stopped to investigate. He looked under the car and then he swore out loud and yelled for me to bring him a specific item. I got this item from my overnight bag. I gave it to him and in a few seconds, the problem seemed to be solved. 

We drove on for about five minutes and then my husband stopped to check the repair. He looked at it again and then swore again. He asks me to get him the same item but from his overnight bag this time. I gave it to him and this time the repair was made just as quickly and lasted the remaining 1800 miles of the trip!"

The puzzle is this.

What went wrong? What happened? What was the item her husband asked for? And finally, why did it work when taken from her husband's overnight bag, but not from her own?

Good luck!

Find out here »
Congratulations to this week's
puzzler winner:

 vfswood

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

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Contents © 2022, Dewey, Cheatham, and Howe.
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