RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappett Brothers. And we are here to talk about cars, car repair, and the answer to last week's Puzzler.

TOM: Yeah, go ahead.

RAY: I know you didn't like this one.

TOM: No, I don't remember. I remember it was about Bedouins, but I don't remember anything else.

RAY: I remember you started ridiculing it right from the start, saying that the Bedouins had nothing to do with it. I contrived the whole thing. Here it is. Two Bedouins are crossing the desert on their camels. Are you with me so far?

TOM: Yes. Yes.

RAY: It's early in the morning, and they come across a suitcase in the sand that's partially open. There are no tracks of any kind surrounding it.

TOM: Oh, I remember this.

RAY: They look at the suitcase and all they see is Western-style clothing, so they move on. Right?

TOM: I got you.

RAY: They leave it there and they continue on their journey to the oasis. A little while later they find another suitcase in the sand. Same thing. It's open and clothes are strewn about. They go on thinking of nothing but this suitcase. A little while later they come across a video camera in the sand. A little while later they find shoes, hats, pants, shirts. They continue on their journey. Finally, they see a man in his underwear, obviously dead, lying face down in the sand, grasping a piece of straw. The question is, what happened?

TOM: Well, you know, the only thing that had me stumped was the piece of straw.

RAY: Really?

TOM: And that's the biggest clue, of course.

RAY: It is the biggest clue.

TOM: Otherwise, I figured the guy fell out of an airplane.

RAY: So close. He was grasping the short straw. He was part of a party that was trying to make a hot air balloon trip across the desert. And, as they began to lose altitude...

TOM: Someone had to go.

RAY: -- they began to throw off suitcases.

TOM: Oh, this is bogus! The short straw and he held on to it all the way down from 20,000 feet.

RAY: Maybe he had it in his shorts! And they began to throw off suitcases, shoes, and all the clues.

TOM: And finally him.

RAY: And finally, they said, "We're going to crash; someone's got to go." And they had already thrown the sandbags off. And, of course, what do they have? The basket is made out of, what? Straw. They strip off a few pieces. They hastily pull straws and this poor bastard has to jump overboard.

TOM: You have sunk to a new low. You have fallen into the abyss of crap. I have never heard a more bogus...

RAY: I thought...

TOM: -- grasping a straw! I can't believe.

RAY: I think you have failed to grasp the beauty and the elegance of it. There's only one answer. It's a one- answer riddle. The Philistines out there were stumped. And none of you got it, and that's why you think it's bad.

TOM: I don't want to be near your computer when the mail comes in.

RAY: Really, huh?

TOM: You are going to be bombarded.

RAY: If you think this one was bad, wait 'til you hear the next one. Anyway, do we have a winner?

TOM: Of course not. We are just going to give someone the prize, because no one figured this one out. The winner is George Hasapidus.

RAY: I would say, Hasapidus.

TOM: From, of all places, Arlington, Massachusetts, who actually did send his answer.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]