RAY: A rich old geezer passes away. When the lawyer reads the will, he's surprised to find out that the old geezer left his entire estate to his three nephews, Chip, Skip, and Nunzio.

But, the old man had the good sense to spend most of his money on women and wine. The only thing he had left was 17 sports cars. So the lawyer and the three legatees -- Chip, Skip, and Nunzio -- show up at the carriage house to look at the cars.

The lawyer says, "Your uncle left one-third of the cars to Chip, half of the cars to Skip, and a ninth of the cars to Nunzio." Chip, Skip, and Nunzio look at each other and say, "What the heck do we do now? There are 17 cars."

They don't know how to divvy them up. The lawyer's no help. They're ready to duke it out, when who should waltz in, but our old friend Crusty.

Crusty looks around at the situation, overhears their conversation and their consternation, and he proposes a solution.

What did he propose and, more importantly, why did it work?

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]