Carrot Brick

It is a little puzzler this time. A non-automotive, short little puzzler.

We went over to our Mom's house years ago and there was a pretty good crowd. I think there were like eight of us. A bunch of family members.

There were eight of us and Mom had baked a carrot cake. And it was a rectangular shape, like a carrot cake brick. And because there were eight of us we had to cut the carrot cake into eight pieces, right?

So, Dad says he can cut the carrot brick cake into eight pieces, no problem. And then one of the kids says, "Hey, wait a minute, Gramps. You can do that with fewer than four cuts."

And Dad says. "I can?? Show me how." And he did. Three cuts.

So, how did he do it? How can you cut a brick of cake into eight equal pieces with three cuts only, three slices of a knife?

Good luck.

Answer the Puzzler »

Remember last week's puzzler?

Four Things

Puzzler time my friends. As promised, this is an automotive puzzler this time.

Years ago, a customer came into the shop right around the start of winter. And at that time of year, people tend to have winter things done to their car, especially up here in Our Fair City.

So, this fellow came in with a list of things he wanted to be done. Winterizing, we call it.

He wrote out the list for us and he said, "I'd like you to do these four things."

And here are the four things on the list. Check the belts and hoses. This is always a good idea when your car is in the shop. He wanted us to change the oil and filter. And also to change out his wiper blades, because he was having trouble seeing the front. And also, drain and refill the coolant. Okay, so it was those four things he wanted us to do and nothing else.

So, the young fellow that was working in the car addressed all these four things, and only these four things. Nothing else. Belts and hoses, oil and filter, wiper blades, and coolant. Then, he comes over to the car's owner and asks, "Hey, are you getting lousy mileage?"

And the owner said, "Gee, now that you mention it, I am."

So the puzzler this week is, what did the young mechanic notice while doing one of these four things that would cause him to ask that question? What did he see while working on one of those four things that led him to believe the owner was getting bad gas mileage?

Good luck!