Back and To The Right

Time for the puzzler.

Years ago, we had a customer call up the shop.

He tells us, "So I've got a problem with my car. I don't know what's going on, but I pulled out of my driveway this morning and parked in the street, and my car is leaning to the rear and to the right. Something's wrong in the right rear. I must have a broken strut or something. A couple of months ago, I was in and you guys told me I needed new struts, and they were worn out, and I think that's the problem."

And I said, "No, no, no, no, no. Worn out struts would never cause this to happen. You must have a warn or broken spring."

And he said, "I crawled under there and I looked, and I don't see anything broken. The spring doesn't look broken. The part of the strut that holds the spring doesn't look broken, and I'm afraid to drive it, so I'm going to tow it in to the shop."

So, he does. He calls the tow truck and has the car brought into the shop. And sure enough, it arrives at the shop, comes off the tow truck, and it's leaning back and to the right, just like he said.

So, I drive it into the shop, and I take a peek underneath, and I don't see anything broken either. But I am thinking to myself, it must be a broken spring. I'll have to look at this later.

So, I get busy, a bunch of things pop up at the shop and I forget about the car for a few hours.

Hours later, when I come back to his car, it's level. The car is suddenly level.

I realized right then that he was right, and he did need new struts.

And the puzzler is, what was happening here?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

New Year Poison

This is not automotive, but still a really good puzzler for people.

Imagine it is New Year's Eve.

A bunch of people attend a fancy party to celebrate for New Year's Eve. About 60 or so people attend this event.

So at this New Year's Eve party, they serve various things that you find at parties. There's champagne for a champagne toast, and there's a bowl of fruit punch with ice cubes in it, and various cheeses and fruit displays, hors d'oeuvres and desserts, a whole spread of food across a long table.

In any case, one of the guests comes to the party, but he leaves early. But before he leaves, he partakes of all the various things. He has a glass of champagne. He has some fruit punch. He tries every one of the hors d'oeuvres and all the desserts. He has some of everything before he leaves. He leaves hours before any of the other guests leave. The other guests all party into the night and ring in the new year.

The next morning, all the other guests are found dead. The butler had off the night before, due to the holiday. So when he arrives in the morning, all the other guests are laying about the house, and they are all dead.

The cops determine that the guests had all been poisoned. They've clearly been poisoned by something that was on the table the night before. Something they all ate or drank.

Yet, this guy that left early is alive and well. Even though he ate and drank everything that everyone else did, he survived.

How is this possible?

And hint: he is not immune to anything, and he did not poison the other people himself. He ate everything and just simple didn't die.