# The Car Talk Puzzler is back! Any thoughts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 18, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746 "2011-09-18T21:06:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/1 "2011-09-18T21:06:35Z")
I can usually get these but [this one](http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/201138/index.html) has me stumped. > [@](#): > > RAY: This is from my Learning Your Numbers Series. The inspiration for this puzzler came from a fellow named Jim Francis, and here goes. You ready? Pay attention. And have a pencil at the ready. > > When my kids were in school, they, like all the other kids I guess, had to learn their numbers. So each day for homework, they would bring home a list of numbers on a piece of paper, and they were asked to write out the letters that spelled that number, right next to each of them. So the number seven would be there, there’d be a blank space, the kids would have to write S - E - V - E - N. And of course they were also asked which numbers were spelled out by the various combinations of letters, so they’d see S - I - X - T - Y and write Sixty, etc. > > One day, son number two presented me with a list of numbers and he said, “These numbers are different. There’s something special about them.” Here are the numbers: > > Four, Six, Twelve, Thirty, Thirty Three, Thirty Six, Forty, Forty Five, Fifty, Fifty Four, Fifty Six, Sixty, Seventy, Eighty One, Eighty Eight, Ninety, and a Hundred. > > Now there are no other numbers between one and a hundred inclusive that share this same characteristic. There’s something unusual about these numbers that son number two figured out. And I’ll give you an additional hint that order does not matter. The best hint is that he determined that these numbers should be on the list perhaps from his homework assignment. > > What is special about this list of numbers? ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/2 "2011-09-18T21:11:10Z")
(Just a quick note, reported for forum change.) ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/3 "2011-09-18T21:15:29Z")
Hmmm… None contain the letters a, b, c, j, k, m, p, q, x, or z. What do I win? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/4 "2011-09-18T21:17:51Z")
> [@Toucanna](#): > > (Just a quick note, reported for forum change.) Thanks for that. I never know where to post things. I did a search and it looked like CT Puzzlers had been posted here in the past so I went with that. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/5 "2011-09-18T21:19:02Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmmm… None contain the letters a, b, c, j, k, m, p, q, x, or z. > > What do I win? You win nothing-- “Six” contains x. And more to the point, the puzzle says that these are the _only_ numbers up to 100 with this property. ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/6 "2011-09-18T21:21:08Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Hmmm… None contain the letters a, b, c, j, k, m, p, q, x, or z. Remember that it must be a characteristic not shared by any other numbers between one and a hundred. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/7 "2011-09-18T21:25:14Z")
Got it, I think. The number of letters in each one is a factor of the number. They made a mistake with the last one though, it should be “one hundred”, which has ten letters, rather than “a hundred” which has eight. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/8 "2011-09-18T21:25:53Z")
Shouldn’t it be “one hundred” rather than “a hundred”? Numbers divisible by the number of letters in their name? ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/9 "2011-09-18T21:39:58Z")
> [@Shmendrik](#): > > Got it, I think. > > The number of letters in each one is a factor of the number. They made a mistake with the last one though, it should be “one hundred”, which has ten letters, rather than “a hundred” which has eight. That must be it. Well done. ---
**Author:** ![Sigene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sigene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigene)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/10 "2011-09-19T01:44:58Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > Shouldn’t it be “one hundred” rather than “a hundred”? > > Numbers divisible by the number of letters in their name? I didn’t know how to spell “fourty” I heard the puzzler and was all smug in being satisfied I found the (above) answer on my own…until “fourty”… Oooohhhhh!!! F-O-R-T-Y! now it works 'Never knew that befour.😃 ---
**Author:** ![standingwave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@standingwave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/standingwave)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/11 "2011-09-19T05:03:31Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I didn’t know how to spell “fourty” Yes well, I got past that one from knowing the Forth programming language from my first job out of college. 😃 But where the modulo theory broke down for me was when I hit the eleventies. You know, eleventy-one, eleventy-two…😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hermitian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hermitian/32/470_2.png) [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/12 "2011-09-19T13:31:08Z")
> [@Sigene](#): > > I didn’t know how to spell “fourty” Yes, I went down the right track on this one until I was unable to count to 11. That darn “counting” skill that I was supposed to learn in kindergarten gets me every time. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/13 "2011-09-19T17:21:12Z")
> [@](#): > > But where the modulo theory broke down for me was when I hit the eleventies. You know, eleventy-one, eleventy-two… I know more than half of these numbers less than half so well as I should like, and less than half of them half so well as they deserve. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/14 "2011-09-22T23:53:25Z")
If “a” should be “one” then the solution involving factors seems to work, but technically this cannot be correct for the puzzler as written. I am inclined to believe that “a” is correct and there is anothet solution. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2011, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/15 "2011-09-22T23:59:44Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > If “a” should be “one” then the solution involving factors seems to work, but technically this cannot be correct for the puzzler as written. I am inclined to believe that “a” is correct and there is anothet solution. I am not inclined to believe that, but I guess we’ll find out in a few days. ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/16 "2011-09-23T00:26:02Z")
To explain myself on this, it just seems to me that since Car Talk has been doing these puzzlers for years, due to careful proofreading such a mistake would not have been made , or if it was someone would have already pointed it out to them and the website would be changed, or perhaps the whole puzzler would have been removed. Now if someone heard the actual puzzler on air and could confirm that “one” was said instead of “a”, well then you would have something. Nope, I’m pretty sure I’m right and am confident that come Saturday we will hear the real solution, or copious mea culpas from the guys if in fact “a” should have been “one”. ---
**Author:** ![Shmendrik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Shmendrik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shmendrik)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/17 "2011-09-23T00:27:01Z")
> [@Fiddle\_Peghead](#): > > To explain myself on this, it just seems to me that since Car Talk has been doing these puzzlers for years, due to careful proofreading such a mistake would not have been made , or if it was someone would have already pointed it out to them and the website would be changed, or perhaps the whole puzzler would have been removed. Now if someone heard the actual puzzler on air and could confirm that “one” was said instead of “a”, well then you would have something. > > Nope, I’m pretty sure I’m right and am confident that come Saturday we will hear the real solution, or copious mea culpas from the guys if in fact “a” should have been “one”. There appears to be audio available for the show, but it doesn’t seem to include the puzzle segment. I’m curious about what they actually said. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/18 "2011-09-23T01:59:12Z")
I record the show every week, and have just reviewed my copy of last week’s show. Ray does indeed say “a hundred.” ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/19 "2011-09-23T02:40:27Z")
The show streams on Roku as well. He says “a hundred”, though I think this is a mistake by him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2011, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746/20 "2011-09-23T02:50:10Z")
When I first heard the buildup of numbers and their names, I knew that one of the numbers they’d list would be four. That made it simple to figure out the answer. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-car-talk-puzzler-is-back-any-thoughts/596746.md?page=2)