RAY: You're listening to Car Talk with us, Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers, and we're here to talk about cars, car repair and, uh, the answer to last week's historic and folkloric Puzzler.
TOM: Still don't remember it.
RAY: As I said, this comes from the days of knights and kings and fair maidens named Rowena. And here's the story.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: Rowena, the Fair Maiden, of course, like all fair maidens, wishes to wed, and her father, the Evil King Dougie, has devised a way to drive off suitors. He puts three boxes on the table, OK?
TOM: Mmm-hmm.
RAY: One is made of gold, one is silver, and the third is lead. Inside one of these boxes is a picture of the Fair Rowena. And the knight's job--without opening the boxes, naturally--is to pick the one with Rowena's picture in it.
TOM: If he wants to buy some pictures of Rowena, I got some. Oh, I'm sorry.
RAY: Oh, actually...never mind.
TOM: I'm sorry. Did I interrupt?
RAY: No. No, no. So, he has to pick the one with Rowena's picture in it, OK? If he picks the box with the picture, he gets Rowena's hand in marriage. Anyway, on top of each box is an inscription, and here's what they say.
TOM: Ah! I remember this now.
RAY: OK.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: The gold box says, "Rowena's picture is in this box." The silver box says, "Rowena's picture is not in this box." The lead box says, "Rowena's picture is not in the gold box."
TOM: I love this.
RAY: Don't you love this stuff?
TOM: These are great Puzzlers.
RAY: So, Evil King Dougie gives our knight one hint, because, as it's currently set up, you can't solve it.
TOM: Oh, no. Of course not.
RAY: He stipulates that only one of the inscriptions is correct.
TOM: Yeah.
RAY: You got it? One is correct, and the other two are incorrect.
TOM: Mmm-hmm. Yeah.
RAY: And, if you look at one and three, they're contradictory.
TOM: Yes. What does that mean?
RAY: Well, they say the opposite.
TOM: I know that, but what does it mean in terms of the truth in fullness?
RAY: Well, it means that one of them must be true. One of those two statements must be true.
TOM: Yeah. Because if they...they say the opposite...
RAY: Well, all right. Then let's go...
TOM: Now, that's good. I like it.
RAY: Let's assume...
TOM: Wait. I like this, because if one of them is true, the gold box can't be true. The inscription on the gold box cannot be true, because if it is, then the inscription on the silver box must also be true.
RAY: And that can't happen.
TOM: And that can't happen.
RAY: So, the statement...
TOM: So, the statement on the third box, the lead box, is the only one that can be true. I love it!
RAY: The statement on the third box is the only one that can be true. The first one must be false, and the second box, which says, "Rowena's picture is not in this box," that is also false, which means that her picture isÉ
TOM: Is in that box!
RAY: In the silver box.
TOM: I love it. I love it.
RAY: So, it means the picture must be in the silver box.
TOM: You know, you tell me that geometry is better than this at teaching people how to think.
RAY: It's easier to explain.
TOM: Maybe it is.
RAY: That's why they teach it.
TOM: I think...I think all of grammar school and high school should be Puzzlers. Have nothing to do with algebra. I mean, trigonometry, the area under a curve--who cares! This is thinking, man. I still don't get it.
RAY: Well, there is someone who did get it.
TOM: And who's that?
RAY: I don't know. Who's our winner?
TOM: Well, the winner is Greg Frye from Scottsdale, Arizona. And for having his answer selected at random from among all the correct answers, Greg gets a $25 gift certificate to the Car Talk Shameless Commerce Division, with which he can get our Puzzler book, or our brand-new album, "Why You Should Never Listen to Your Father When It Comes to Cars," or he can lose the certificate and save us 25 bucks, which is what we'd prefer, but that's up to him.
RAY: Go, Greg!
[ Car Talk Puzzler ]
