RAY: OK, look it, since my brother always remembers the puzzler these days, I guess I will just have to launch right into it. In fact you know what, why don't you do it? I mean because you remember it so well.

TOM: I remember very clearly that when you proposed this puzzler last week, I said this is so simple, it can't possibly be that it's as simple as that.

RAY: Right, what part in particular was simplistic?

TOM: It had to do with headlights, did it not?

RAY: Oooh.

TOM: Ah ha, it just came to me. Had to do with headlights.

RAY: I had him on the ropes folks!

TOM: You did.

RAY: I had him for a standing eight count!

TOM: But under pressure -- you notice?

RAY: Saved by the bell.

TOM: I mean earlier today I couldn't remember it. Here's the scenario. We're driving through the Sahara Desert... no, I don't remember it.

RAY: Should I just do it?

TOM: Yeah, you do it. I don't remember it that well.

RAY: This was submitted by Christine Hahn via Cyberspace. I think I mentioned last week that all the information you need is embedded in this little narrative. She says I lived for a year doing medical research in Tanzania, East Africa, and at my disposal were two vehicles, a blue Mitsubishi Pajero of unknown vintage and an 1981 Landcruiser. I live several miles outside of town on a long, bumpy dirt road, which became a long, muddy road during raining season. It was always a challenge to drive.

TOM: Whoosh.

RAY: Aw, I mean hints galore.

TOM: Oh!

RAY: One evening as I was cruising in the Mitsubishi I notice that whenever I let up on the gas pedal, the headlights dimmed, and I was forced to keep my foot on the accelerator the entire way into town where my trusting mechanic diagnosed an electrical problem. A wire had apparently shaken loose, da, da, da, da.

TOM: Parentheses -- red herring.

RAY: Oh yeah, yeah, red alert.

TOM: Red herring.

RAY: The wire was refastened, and the problem was solved. Not more than two weeks later I was navigating the road in the other vehicle, the Landcruiser when I noticed much to my dismay that the headlights were dimming on that one too. It was getting dark and in fear of being stranded out in the middle of nowhere, I accelerated again wondering if I had another loose wire; the headlights didn't really seem to respond, but in my anxiety I wasn't sure so I kept accelerating. I was making steady progress toward down when just as I reached the pave road, I hit a stationery object like a rock and blew out one of my tires. With a heavy heart I came to a stop. Lyndon Johnson must have helped her write this.

TOM: Yeah.

RAY: I turned off the car and began to change the flat tire, and during the course of the tire change, I discovered what was wrong with the car.

TOM: Wow.

RAY: I managed to fix it without opening the hood. In fact I fixed it with the sleeve of my jacket. Well, I mean I had to put that in because you got to give people a fighting chance. It could have been a lot of different things.

TOM: I don't think so. I don't think. I thought that hint was going a little bit too far.

RAY: Well, you should have said something at the time.

TOM: I thought you had a good reason for making it that simple because maybe you had a relative who wanted to win and didn't have the brains to come up with anything for an answer except for this one.

RAY: So you think it's fixed hey? The fix is in.

TOM: Well, it could be. I left it up to you.

RAY: Well, the question was what was wrong with Christine's car that she was able to effect the repair with her sleeve on.

TOM: Whoa, yes.

RAY: And what was wrong was that her headlights were covered with mud.

TOM: Yeah, from the dusty...

RAY: From the first paragraph.

TOM: ...dirty road of the first paragraph, which was not a red herring.

RAY: There you go. Who's our winner?

TOM: Our winner this week is David Weingartner from Anaheim, California. He sent this answer in by e-mail, and since we know because of that, that he has a computer instead of sending him a CD, we are going to send him one of the brand new, full-color Car Talk mouse pads, which shows my brother and myself performing surgery on an engine in an operating room. Ha, ha, ha. This is part of the holiday customer fleece collection now on sale at Car Talk's Shameless Commerce Division on the web site wwwwww.

RAY: Now he probably doesn't have a computer at home; he has one at work.

TOM: Of course.

RAY: So he brings the mouse pad to work, his co-workers are going to ask where he got it. He will have to admit that he answered the puzzler correctly and they will know because he doesn't have one at home that he used the work computer and he'll get fired. That's it for Dave.

TOM: And they'll say, "hey Dave, when you get fired, can I have your mouse pad.

RAY: Anyway, we will have a brand new puzzler coming up during the second half of today's show having to do with folklore and history.

TOM: Oooh, I love those.