RAY : Hi, we're back. 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, duh, the answer to last week's Puzzler. This was part of the mathematical series.

TOM : Can't remember it yet.

RAY : I don't remember it myself. Anyway, here it is: A landscaper returns from work and is sitting at the kitchen table with his kids. The kids ask, "Did you work hard today, Daddy?" And he answers, "I did. I planted a lot of trees."

TOM : Ah!

RAY : "In fact," he goes on to say, "I planted five rows of four trees each."

TOM : Mmm-hmm.

RAY : His little third-grader, wanting to show off her mastery of the multiplication tables...newfound mastery...

TOM : Mmm-hmm.

RAY : Says, "Oh, that means you planted 20 trees, Daddy." He says, "No, you little twerp. You're wrong."

TOM : "And who the hell asked you for your opinion anyway?"

RAY : "I planted 10 trees." She says, "That's impossible." He says, "No it isn't. I planted 10 trees in five rows of four, and I'll give you a hint. If you look at one of the test papers your teacher has returned to you recently, you're going to find the answer on one of those papers."

TOM : Wow!

RAY : The little girl thinks for a minute and says, "Aha! I've got it!"

TOM : I think I've got it! The rain in Spain falls mainly in the plain!

RAY : Reminds of the great scene from "Cinema Paradiso" where the little kids are in third grade and the teacher asks them how much is five times five, which is "cinque da cinque." And the kid can't get the answer, and the kid in the next row draws a Christmas tree. "Oh, it's December 25."

TOM : Ah!

RAY : Twenty-five, right? And the little kid yells out, "Five times five! Christmas!" Well.

TOM : Yeah.

RAY : How did the landscaper plant 10 trees in five rows of four each?

TOM : Yeah.

RAY : What the little girl finds on her paper is something that you often find on graded papers from your third-grade teacher. At the top of the page is a star.

TOM : I never got one.

RAY : Oh. That's why you didn't get the answer to this either, you dumbo. And if you draw a five-pointed star, just like your third-grade teacher put on your papers, and you put a tree at every intersection point and a tree at every vertex...

TOM : You end up with four.

RAY : You end up with 10 trees, right?

TOM : Four, four, four.

RAY : Five rows of four trees each.

TOM : Whew!

RAY : Pretty good, hunh?

TOM : That is good!

TOM : Yes, we do. Just a minute.

RAY : We always have a winner.

TOM : It looks like Catherine LaFeriere from Highland, Maryland, and for having her answer selected at random from the hundreds of correct answers that we got, Catherine is going to win a $25 gift certificate to the store at the Car Talk section of cars.com.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]