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The Puzzler

Tommy's Tick-Tock Troubles

RAY: One day last week my brother awoke from his mid-morning office nap to discover there had been a power failure. Tommy knew this because his digital clock was flashing "12:00."

Now, there are a lot of ways today that Tommy could have found out the exact time. But while he was devising a plan of action, he happened to walk by the mirror and realized that he was in urgent need of a haircut. So rather than deal with correcting his digital clock, he decided to walk to the barbershop.

My brother always walks at a very predictable pace, just one foot ahead of the other, hands behind his back.

TOM: The old geezer shuffle!

RAY: Right. At the barbershop, there was a working clock on the wall. There were a couple of guys in front of him, so Tommy sat there and caught up on his magazines.

Finally, he got his haircut. He left the barbershop, walked home and set his clock to the right time.

We don't know how fast Tommy walks, and we don't care.

We don't know how far away the barbershop is -- and we don't care.

So the question is, how does he set his clock to the correct time?


Think you know? Drop Ray a note!

[ Car Talk Puzzler ]

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