RAY: One day last week, Tommy awoke from his mid-morning nap to discover there had been a power failure. He knew this because his digital clock was flashing 12. Now, there are lots of ways he could have found out what the time was. He could have called home, but nobody there talks to him anymore. So he dismissed that possibility. He could have turned his computer back on and found out on the Internet what time it was, but that was too close to actually working. While he was devising a plan of action, he happened to walk by the mirror. And having great eyesight, he realized he was in urgent need of a haircut.

So rather than deal with this time thing, he decided to walk to the barbershop. So, he left his office and walked to the barbershop. Now, I will say that my brother always walks at a very steady, albeit slow, pace. One foot ahead of the other, hands clasped behind his back. You know, the geezer shuffle. His pace never changes. Anyway, he gets to the barbershop where there is a working clock on the wall. It's showing the correct time. There are a couple of guys in front of him, so he sits there and catches up on a couple of issues of GQ. And then he gets his haircut. He leaves the barbershop, walks back to his office and sets his clock to the right time. And the question is, how does he manage to do this. Don't forget: We don't know how far away the barbershop is, and we don't know how fast he walks. So, how does he manage to do this? Well, here's how he does it.

TOM: Wow, this is good.

RAY: When he leaves his office, he sets the clock, the clock that had been flashing. And let's say he sets it for noon. So, he just presses set and the thing starts keeping time from that point on. At which point, he walks to the barbershop. When he gets to the barbershop, he notices what time it is. And he sits there and reads his Field & Stream magazine and True Romance, True Detective, gets his haircut and he leaves. He notices what time it is then. So he knows how much time he spent at the barbershop either waiting or getting his haircut.

TOM: Right.

RAY: When he gets home, he knows how much time has elapsed since he left because he set the clock. Let's say, for example, he set the clock at noon. When he got back, it was three o'clock according to his clock in his office.

TOM: So he knows that altogether he's been gone for three hours.

RAY: And he knows how long he spent in the barbershop which was what? Two hours.

TOM: Two hours.

RAY: So if he was gone for three and spent two hours --

TOM: Spent half an hour to get there? Half an hour to get back.

RAY: So if he knows that, for example, he left the barbershop at five, then he had to have arrived home at 5:30. He sets his clock as what? Time for his late afternoon nap.

TOM: Whoopee!

RAY: So who's our winner?

TOM: The winner is Jill Platco from Merrimac, New Hampshire. Ta-da! And for having her answer selected at random from both of the correct answers that we got, Jill is going to get a $25 gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division, which is at the Car Talk section of cars.com. And with that gift certificate, she can get a copy of our brand-new, hot CD, "The Hatchback of Notre Dame"

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]