RAY: Hi, we're back. You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair, and of course the answer to last week's challenging little Puzzler which my brother is still working on.
TOM: I am. I'm trying to find a shortcut. I mean obviously, it's trial and error. Go ahead. Tell, explain us what the question is.
RAY: Well, this is from my series of clock puzzlers.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: And here it is. I instructed everyone to take a piece of paper and draw a clock face and put the numbers in. You know, twelve, one, two, three, all the way around to eleven.
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: And then next, I instructed you to draw two straight lines in the face of the clock so that the clock was divided into sections. You can do it, you can have either three sections or four sections by doing this. If the lines intersect someplace, you will wind up with four sections. If they don't intersect, you'll wind up with three sections and the puzzle is this: Draw these lines so that some of the numbers in each section are equal.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: Is that pretty straightforward?
TOM: It is pretty straightforward. I've got it.
RAY: You've got it.
TOM: I didn't put all the numbers on the clock though. I only put four numbers.
RAY: Four numbers, really.
TOM: I put the twelve, the three, the six, and the nine and it was simple. How much is twelve and three?
RAY: 15.
TOM: How much is nine and six?
RAY: 17.
TOM: I'm all done.
RAY: Well, as a matter of fact, if you draw the lines --
TOM: Yeah?
RAY: -- so that you, let's, you start at a point between the 10 and the 11.
TOM: OK, I'm with you. And you go to where?
RAY: And you connect that to a point between the two and the three.
TOM: Gee, I had that much.
RAY: That's a line at number one.
TOM: And that adds up to 23, 24, 25, 26.
RAY: There you go. Now you take a point between the right and nine --
TOM: Yeah?
RAY: -- and a point between the four and five and connect those two dots.
TOM: Four and five.
RAY: And you will wind up with a section that's eight, seven, six, five, which I believe adds up to 26.
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: And ten, nine, four, three which also adds up to 26. So you'll wind up with three sections, each of which is 26.
TOM: Is this the only solution to this problem?
RAY: Absolutely. I have researched the bejeezus out of this. No, see? The problem that I think most people will run into is they would think the lines would have to intersect.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: But in fact, by not intersecting, they're making three sections. You come up with the only solution I believe.
TOM: OK. Are you thinking that's the answer? Well, we know it is an answer and now all you need is one. I mean, how many answers can one person have?
RAY: Exactly. So who's our winner?
TOM: The winner is Suzanne Howley from Framingham, Massachusetts.
RAY: Really?
TOM: Yeah. I didn't realize we had any listeners in Massachusetts.
RAY: No.
TOM: For having her answer selected at random from the snow shovel full of correct answers that we got, Suzanne will get a $25 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at the Car Talk section of cars.com. And with that gift certificate, she can get a copy of our brand new CD, "Car Talk Car Tunes, Volume One." It's the compendium of disrespectful car songs, the perfect gift for the person in your life who has everything.
RAY: Well, everything but taste that is.
TOM: That's right. Actually, it's quite good and I have a copy of it myself. I didn't pay for it.
RAY: Yeah? Well, what's your favorite song on the album?
TOM: My favorite song is "They're All Jerks." I know she's singing about drivers, but I play it when I open our threatening letters from lawyers and I sing "They're All Jerks."
RAY: Anyway, we'll have a brand new, I would have to call it a Logic Puzzler, coming up in the third half of today's show.
TOM: What?
RAY: So don't touch that dial. And if you have a question about your car, you can't touch the dial. We don't really care, but you can call us. The number is (888) CAR-TALK. That's 888-227-8255.
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
