Cartalk Puzzler

[albionmoonlight]

I have no idea on this one. Thought that someone here might. Seems to have more to do with the way matches and coffee and stuff works than with math type stuff. But I really don't know.

http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/200525/index.html


RAY: This puzzler came from a fellow named Jim Kugler. It's, well... it's a few years old.

TOM: He's probably dead!

RAY: That's what I'm hoping for. Actually, he isn't really the author. He says, "This is a re-worked question from a Mensa quiz." So, he stole it from Mensa.

Did I mention that I had to obfuscate?

Okay. Here it is:

My friend Richard bought himself a fancy European sports car. One day he received a letter from his dealership asking him to stop by for a recall. The inspection would be completed within 30 minutes while he waited, of course.

Richard made an appointment, dropped off his car, and was directed to the waiting room. The hospitality hostess -- this is a very fancy dealership, as you can tell -- pointed out the magazine rack, directed him to a cafe table, and asked him if he would like some coffee and a brioche.

Richard said, "Yes," and soon the hostess returned and provided him with a steaming cup. Just as he was about to put the cup to his lips he saw an extinguished match floating in his coffee cup. He called the hostess over to his table and pointed out the used match.

She cried out, "Mon Dieu!" She immediately removed the offensive cup and quickly returned, saying, "I'm so sorry, sir. Here's a fresh cup."

After he calmed down, Richard tasted his coffee, and then indignantly slammed his fist on the table, and bellowed, "What are you trying to pull? This is the same cup of coffee! All you did was take out the match!"

[TredWel]

I know the answer, but it's a classic puzzle, one that I won't spoil just yet.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I remember this one too, but like TredWel, I'll avoid answering too quickly.

[KevinNU7]

Where's the question?

[albionmoonlight]

The question is--how did he know?

[KevinNU7]

Well the obvious answer is that it tasted like shit :p

[gstelmack]

He had clearly put cream, sugar, or some other additive in the coffee before spotting the match, and it was still there when she brought the cup back.

[Celeval]

Sugar, I'd say, since that doesn't change the look (she wouldn't know), and he doesn't notice until he tastes it.

[JPhillips]

He had an oozing sore on his hand and he saw his pus on the cup.

[KevinNU7]

I'm going to say he dipped his brioche in the coffee and then discovered the match. Then he tasted the brioche in the coffee.

If these are the types of questions for Mensa then I'd never want to be a part of it

[sterlingice]

This had better have a better answer than the obvious ones. Either way, I still love Car Talk.

SI

[KevinNU7]

Those in the know, has someone gotten it yet?

[KevinNU7]

I like this one:

RAY: I didn't have to obfuscate this puzzler a whole lot, but I did make a few little changes. This came from Jonathan Cox, from across the pond. He writes:

I'm getting old and a little absent-minded, so my friends got together and bought me a stylish little desk calendar. It's a cradle for two cubes, each with one number per face.

They figured I probably had enough left in me to figure what year it was and what month it was, but the date was going to elude me. So, this little gift was going to show the date. So, for example, if it were the 21st, I'd rotate one cube until a "2" was showing, and the other would show a "1." The next day I would know to rotate one cube so, together, the two cubes would read "22."

With the two cubes, I was able to express every date. For example, if it were the 2nd of the month, it would be expressed as "02." If it were the 18th you'd put up a 1 and an 8, and so on.

Here's my question. If you were designing the cubes, what numbers would you paint on each one so you could express all the dates from "01" to "31"?

Here're a few hints: you're going to run into a problem because you're not going to have enough faces. Maybe. There are several right answers and lots of wrong answers. But all the right answers have one thing in common.

[Maple Leafs]

Here's my question. If you were designing the cubes, what numbers would you paint on each one so you could express all the dates from "01" to "31"?
I'd never heard this puzzle before, but just last week I saw one of those cube-calendars in a store and ended up thinking through the exact question after I'd left and it occured to me that there weren't enough faces on the cubes for all the dates.

[QuikSand]

A long time ago, we did a much tougher version of the cube puzzle here. Lots of fun.

As I recall, the puzzle is to create three cubes that would enable you to spell out all twelve months in their traditional three-letter abbreviations. Now THAT is a good, solid puzzle, and it was worked out here pretty effectively. (I am pretty sure that is the whole setup)

[sterlingice]

Well, some are fairly easy: you won't want the 0 on the cube with the majority of the numbers since there is no 00 day. And the same with the 3 so you can use it for the 30's and there is no 33. Then again, you'll need 3 and 0 on separate cubes so that poses a problem, etc. You have a total of 12 sides so use them wisely :)

SI

[JPhillips]

I can do it if you don't need a 0, but the 0 screws me.

And Wolf, you don't need two threes.

Where did Wolf's post go?

[albionmoonlight]

A long time ago, we did a much tougher version of the cube puzzle here. Lots of fun.

As I recall, the puzzle is to create three cubes that would enable you to spell out all twelve months in their traditional three-letter abbreviations. Now THAT is a good, solid puzzle, and it was worked out here pretty effectively. (I am pretty sure that is the whole setup)
Before I start thinking about this--we are talking about

JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC

Those are my understandings of the "traditional three letter abbreviations."

[QuikSand]

With the numeric cubes... I assume that one (obvious) twist is using a 6/9 in the same slot -- you would never need both numerals for any date, and the cube could just be inverted to represent either 6 or 9. But, I fail to immediately see any other such economizing opportunities.

Presumably, you need 0,1,2, and 3 on both cubes (to accommodate 11, 22, and all the singe digit dates). Then you have 6 slots remaining -- the remaining 7 digits need to be split between them -- I guess that's all you really need to do there.

Cube #1 = 0,1,2,3,4,6
Cube #2 = 0,1,2,5,7,8

Is that all there is to it?

[QuikSand]

Where did Wolf's post go?

In my first draft, I even went further... and specifically mentioned the need for a 33rd. Well done, smarty.

[JPhillips]

If you invert the 6/9 I get.

Cube 1 = 0,1,2,3,4,5
Cube 2 = 0,1,2,6,7,8

[QuikSand]

Before I start thinking about this--we are talking about

JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC

Those are my understandings of the "traditional three letter abbreviations."


Those would all be the correct three letter sets, yes. No tricks there.

[albionmoonlight]

With the numeric cubes... I assume that one (obvious) twist is using a 6/9 in the same slot -- you would never need both numerals for any date, and the cube could just be inverted to represent either 6 or 9. But, I fail to immediately see any other such economizing opportunities.

Presumably, you need 0,1,2, and 3 on both cubes (to accommodate 11, 22, and all the singe digit dates). Then you have 6 slots remaining -- the remaining 7 digits need to be split between them -- I guess that's all you really need to do there.

Cube #1 = 0,1,2,3,4,6
Cube #2 = 0,1,2,5,7,8

Is that all there is to it?
Yup. The key is 6/9.

[albionmoonlight]

Those would all be the correct three letter sets, yes. No tricks there.Ok. I get the following 19 letters as used
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
J
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
Y
Which is 19 letters. And 18 faces. So we need to start looking at dupicates of the 6/9 variety . . .

Edit--Forgot to add the Y.

[sterlingice]

E = M?

SI

[albionmoonlight]

if you go lowercase, you can have d = p.

I think that uppercase E = M. It's a funny looking M, but workable.

I don't think that there are any others, but I could be wrong (I don't know that I would have gotten E = M on my own).

[dacman]

u=n lower case works too.

edit: strike that -- you need both for JUN

[Pyser]

was the coffee thing solved? just sugar?

[KevinNU7]

I think JonInMiddleGA and TredWel jsut wanted to be cool as say they already knew the riddle when really they ahd no fucking clue :)

[MylesKnight]

Car Talk is a great, great show.. The Tapit brothers (Click & Clack) are very entertaining.

Actually the Sunday Afternoon public radio lineup is pretty darn good, with Car Talk (http://www.cartalk.com/) , A Prairie Home Companion (http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/) , This American Life (http://www.thislife.org) (great show) and Le Show (http://www.harryshearer.com/) (with Harry Schearer, aka the guy who does a few voices on the Simpsons).

Good to see there are some fellow casual NPR/PRI listeners at FOFC.