The Shortest Day of 2007

RAY: You're probably thinking about the shortest number of hours of daylight. But I asked for the shortest day. And the shortest day is 23 hours. Not 24 hours. It's the day that we turn the clocks ahead.

This year, that day is March 11th.

Conversely, the longest day is the day we spring back five hours. And you got a 25-hour day, so it balances out.

Of course, this is true for almost the entire country. It isn't true if you live in Arizona unless you're part of the Navaho Nation. They don't observe time at all, I don't think. And Hawaii I don't think observes Daylight Savings Time, either.

TOM: Why would they bother? Every day is perfect. Why screw it up?

RAY: Exactly. And if you're close to the equator, it hardly matters. Do we have a winner?

TOM: Well, you apparently have a winner. The winner this week is John Partridge, from Wellesley, Massachusetts. And for having his answer selected at random from among all the correct answers that we got, John is going to get a 26-dollar gift certificate to the Shameless Commerce Division at cartalk.com, with which he can get our Car Talk Latin T-shirt, which says Non Impediti Ratione Cogitationis. Which of course in Latin means what?

RAY: It's my brother's motto. Unencumbered by the thought process.

TOM: That's it. Exactly right. Congratulations, John, for being our puzzler winner.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]