RAY: Should I be writing this down?
TOM: It would help. John is 12 years old. In 1987 John is 7 years old.
RAY: Any hints? Is John a goldfish?
TOM: The question is how can that be? And a hint is --
RAY: Oh, I don't think the hint is necessary.
TOM: Oh, I think so.
RAY: No, cause it's too easy if you give the hints.
TOM: IHere's the hint. His name probably wasn't John. Got it? 1982 John is 12 years old. 1987 John is seven years old. How can that be? And the hint is his name probably wasn't John.
The Answer:
TOM: It's backwards, and how can this be, and the hint was his name was probably not John.
RAY: Probably not.
TOM: Probably not. And the answer -- add some bogus pause. The more I think about it.
RAY: Yeah, how does it feel.
TOM: It's stupid.
RAY: Isn't it a singular feeling when you devise a puzz -- you didn't even devise this, but sometimes I craft a Puzzler. I put my heart and soul into it --
TOM: I know. I know.
RAY: And then as I am giving the answer --
TOM: You say --
RAY: What always does it is the look -- the look on your face. You get that look on your face like you're ready to blow chunks.
TOM: What was I thinking? How can it sound so good? As they say it seems so -- it seemed like a good idea at the time.
RAY: Embarrass yourself, you commie techno-elitist techno-snob. Go ahead.
TOM: The answer is. It was BC. Or is it BCE?
RAY: BCE. Yeah, BC is no longer politically correct.
TOM: In the common there -- common parlance. It was the year 1982 BCE and the year 1987.
RAY: Yeah, we got it now. No need to belabor it. I think you've beaten --
TOM: BCE, so obviously --
RAY: Yeah, we got it.
TOM: 1982 BCE was five years after.
RAY: Yeah, we got it. I give you a piece of advice. For what it's worth --
TOM: I'm never going to -- yeah, go ahead.
RAY: It's like if you say something you shouldn't have said you should just keep going.
TOM: Just drop it, yeah.
RAY: But you don't need to explain the BC, BCE.
TOM: Well, no, I'm just --
RAY: You know the seven to seventeen. It was lousy, and just end it. People will forget about it if you just don't belabor, but if you continue to talk about it, then it just is like throwing salt on the wound. So I think you should just move on, and who is our winner this week? Should I do the winner.
TOM: You're going to do the winner.
RAY: Our winner this week -- he's embarrassed to admit he's the winner -- is Lou Annella from Stillwater, Oklahoma. And for having his correct answer chosen at random, Lou will get the shameless commerce division's very first copy of our brand new book, how appropriate, of Car Talk Puzzlers.
TOM: Really?
RAY: Yes, you heard right. Our new book is out. It's called a Hair Cut in a Horse Town, and other great Car Talk puzzlers. The shameless commerce division has just received the first printing of these, 37 books. And Lou will be getting one of them. Wow, Lou.
TOM: We'll be down to 36. Minus the seven that everyone stole. That brings us down to 28.
RAY: There you go. BC.
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
