Nine.

Unless you count the hyphen!

The official answer:

RAY: If you were the customer and said nine, you'd get a free beer. That's how many letters there are in "twenty-two."

TOM: Aw, gee. That's it?

RAY: Cute, huh?



And this week's Puzzler:

RAY: This puzzler came from someone named Rob, who used to work for Applied Logic.

TOM: Let me guess -- he's fired now.

RAY: Unauthorized use of company e-mail. Rob says:

My wife owns a 1992 Olds Achieva with a quad-four, five-speed-manual transmission and power everything. One morning, she's heading out to work, and her car won't start. I go out and listen as she tries to start the car. She turns the key. Not even a click. Being in a hurry, she takes my car.

I put the battery charger on her car, and later in the day, I go out and I start it right up. I drive it around a bit to charge the battery. Everything's fine.

The next day, the exact same thing happens. I find instructions for determining if there's a drain on the battery. There's no drain. So, I buy a new battery.

Still, the problem persists. I jump start the car and drive to the dealer. The dealer can't find a thing -- and charges us $10. We told them to let it sit there overnight and try it in the morning. They called the next morning and said what?

TOM: It started right up.

RAY: So, we go to the dealer. My wife gets in with her keys -- and it won't start. We're standing there scratching our heads -- at which point, I ask her, "Did you just buy something for your car?"

And she says, "Yes!"

What did she buy?

RAY: Here's the answer. Rob's wife had bought new floor mats. She had an Olds Achieva with a quad four engine and a five-speed manual transmission. And because she has a manual transmission she has a starter inhibit switch attached to her clutch pedal, which prevents the starter from engaging unless the pedal is depressed all the way to the floor.

And when she puts the new floor mat in, it prevented her from pushing the clutch far enough down. But when Rob gets in with his big legs, he has no trouble mashing this pedal to the floor.

So all she had to do was cut a piece off of the floor mat or pull it back a little bit, and voila! The car started. All the hints were there.


Sure they were, Ray!

And here's the new Puzzler:



RAY: Let's say you have two ordinary decks of playing cards, minus the jokers. So, you have a deck of 52 cards and another deck of 52 cards.

TOM: Same color?

RAY: Well, yeah. The backs of them are red. And the other sides, the business sides are the same. So you take them and you shuffle them up--mix them all up as best you can.

TOM: Both decks together? So one hundred four cards.

RAY: Right. And then you divide them into two equal piles. So, you've got a pile of 52 on one side of the table, and a pile of 52 on the other side of the table. Are you with me so far?

TOM: Yeah, I can tell already this is going to be so bogus! I can tell already. I can just tell. I have no idea what the question is, but...

RAY: I even don't know what the question is yet!

TOM: All right. So, I've shuffled 104 cards together, and I've split them back into two piles of 52 each, and I've got one pile here on my left, and one pile to my right.

RAY: OK? What are the chances that the number of red cards in pile A equals the number of black cards in pile 2? That's part one of the question. And then part two of the question: how many cards would you have to look at to be certain of your answer?

The answer, a few days late, is:

TOM: I happen to know the answer! The chances are: One hundred percent!

RAY: Imagine if you - let's say by some luck, you shuffled up all these cards and all the red cards wound up in one pile, we'll call that pile A. And for simplicity's sake, we'll call the other pile pile B, and all the black cards wound up in that. Then you would say, well, certainly the number of red cards in deck A, or pile A, equals the number of black cards in pile B. Now, I ask you to construct a scenario where it wouldn't be the case, always.

TOM: How about one and 51?

RAY: Exactly. Take a card out of pile A and donate it to pile B--but when you do that, you must reciprocate and take a black card from pile B and donate it to pile A. Therefore you have 51 and one, and 51 and one, and no matter how you do this, if you wind up with 52 cards in each pile the number red cards in pile A will equal the number of black cards in pile 2.

TOM: And part B of the question: How many cards do you have to look at to verify your answer?

RAY: None.

TOM: Isn't that a great --

RAY: You think it's great because you got the answer. If you hadn't gotten the answer, you'd be all over this thing.



And this week's Puzzler:

RAY: This puzzler was submitted by Dennis Michaud, from an outfit called Mathworks. The best thing about it? I don't have to obfuscate it-- it's pre-obfuscated!

Here it is:

The company that Bobo works for just finished a new product. They wanted to promote it across the country. Bobo was asked to travel by car to each of the 48 contiguous U.S. states to promote the product. He was told that he could visit each state in whatever order he chose, but the company wanted him to start in Delaware, at their headquarters.

They asked that he visit each state only once. He could not go back into a state he had already visited--this was the "Don't Look Back" product tour. So, Bobo sat down at his desk and began to plan his trip.

He realized immediately that it was going to be one long car trip. At that moment, his boss stopped by and said, "Hey, I'm going to join you when you reach your last state. I was born there and I've been looking for a reason to go back and visit. You can leave your rental car there, and I'll fly you back in my private jet."

Since Bobo hadn't planned his trip yet, how did his boss know which state was going to be Bobo's last state? And, which state would that be?

Just took a look at the map... I thought that Vermont touched Maine at some point, but it doesn't, so I think you're correct, assuming nothing weird like cutting through Canada or a ferry.

And the answer is....

RAY: He winds up in the one state that borders only one other state -- the great state of Maine, which only borders New Hampshire and, of course, Canada.

TOM: And the Atlantic Ocean.



This week's Puzzler:

RAY: The inspiration for this puzzler was sent in by Warner Grenady. Of course, I had to add some obfuscatory details, and I personalized it a little bit.

Some of you might remember our nephew Matt, whom we called "Pork Chop Boy," because his social life was so bad, he had to tie a pork chop around his neck even to get the dog to play with him.

Anyway, some years ago he dislocated his right shoulder playing chess. It was "strip chess" actually, but, we don't have to go into that. His shoulder hurt so much that he couldn't move the shifter on his automatic transmission. He tried to reach over and shift with the other hand, but twisting in the seat hurt even more.

But, Pork Chop Boy needed to drive to work every day, and he didn't have any way to get there. Tommy said, "No problem. You can use my car." He did, and he had no problem driving Tommy's car to work-- yet, he couldn't shift his own automatic transmission car.

The question is, which one of Tommy's jalopies did Matt use to get to work, and why?