RAY: Welcome 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 Puzzler. And here it is.
TOM: What was the question?
RAY: Well it was the Zippo lighter, remember? Several months ago I was at Logan Airport here in Boston--I just go to smell the jet fuel, I don't really fly anyplace.
TOM: And thank god that you're not getting on a flight.
RAY: No. And while I was there, I happen to see an old college chum of mine, and as I'm struggling to remember his name, what happens? Inevitably, he disappears into the crowd, and I think, Gee, that's too bad! I would have liked to have said hello to him, if nothing else, and...
TOM: Where the heck did he go?
RAY: He was my roommate for three years, and I'm sure he still wants his 200 bucks back; I borrowed 205 [??] from him. But, for the life of me, I can't remember his name. All I can remember is that he lived in the Midwest someplace. So I run to those overhead monitors, and I see that there are, like, a dozen flights going to destinations in the Midwest. You know, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, New Jersey, Florida...
TOM: Springfield, Puerto Rico.
RAY: All those Midwest states. So it's hopeless. And I stand there for a minute, and suddenly I come up with a plan. And two minutes later, I find him!
TOM: Really? Aren't you clever!
RAY: How did I do it? Well, I will confess: there were obfuscations here; the fact, the Midwest thing was an obfuscation.
TOM: Yeah. A red herring.
RAY: Red, complete red herring.
TOM: Completely red, yeah.
RAY: Blazing red herring.
TOM: Blazing red.
RAY: And then when I say I find him--I didn't find him. He found me.
TOM: Exactly.
RAY: Because I went to the customer service desk...
TOM: The white phone.
RAY: The white phone, and I paged myself.
TOM: Exactly.
RAY: And he says, "That nu..."
TOM: "I'm going to go collect that 200 bucks that sleazeball hasn't paid me for 20 years!" And there he was.
RAY: And there he was.
TOM: With his hands around your neck!
RAY: His hands in my wallet!
TOM: If you were given that as part of the puzzle--"and within two minutes, he had found me and had his hands around my neck"--that would have done it.
RAY: Anyway, who's our winner this week?
TOM: Winner? The winner is Susan Geyer [SP?] from Seattle, Washington. And for having her correct answer chosen from among all the correct answers that we got this week, which was two.
RAY: Two?
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
