Claudette's Exploding Bridge Conundrum

RAY: The secret is that you want the fastest people making the greatest number of crossings. So, Claudette and Johnson, who can do it in one and two minutes, respectively, cross together. That takes two minutes.

One of them comes back, let's say it's Johnson, that takes another 2 minutes. Okay, now she's on the good side of the bridge and Johnson isn't.

TOM: So now we got the two slow guys on the wrong side of the bridge, along with Major Johnson.

RAY: Johnson stays there and the two slow guys hop over the bridge. That takes 10 minutes. Okay, so now we're up to 14 minutes.

Claudette dashes across the bridge with the flashlight-- that takes a minute, right? She and Johnson cross together.

TOM: That takes two minutes.

RAY: That's 17 minutes. They got across in 17 minutes, when bingo, the bridge blows up! The Germans are sitting there saying, "Sonja Henie's tutu!"

TOM: That's a good puzzler, because there's a tendency to want Claudette to make lots of trips but she shouldn't.

RAY: I think it's pretty cute.

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]