# Was there ever a Car Talk Puzzler no one answered correctly? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252 "2012-10-09T20:08:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [October 9, 2012, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/1 "2012-10-09T20:08:51Z")
Most of the time I don’t get a chance to listen to Car Talk, so every once in a while I read some of the puzzlers and answers on their website. On one of their [recent answers](http://www.cartalk.com/content/most-unsavory-cup-coffee-0?answer) was this exchange: **"RAY:** Do we have a winner? **TOM:** Yes, we do. The winner this week is Joan Britton from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. And for having her answer selected at random from among those two correct answers that we got…" So they said they only received two correct answers\*. Was there ever a puzzler that no one answered correctly? - This would indicate that they read all of the answers. I find this surprising because they must get a ton of them! Maybe they do word searches on them to whittle them down. For example, they may have searched for the word “sugar” in the answer linked to above. ---
**Author:** ![Clark\_Cello](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@Clark\_Cello](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_Cello)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/2 "2012-10-09T20:57:34Z")
I’m pretty sure that was a joke. Ayour main question, I have never heard a puzzler with no correct answers, but I have not heard 100% of them. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/3 "2012-10-09T20:57:59Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > So they said they only received two correct answers\*. That was a joke. They make self-deprecating, “we have no listeners” jokes all the time, and this is one. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/4 "2012-10-09T21:03:03Z")
> [@Hermitian](#): > > This would indicate that they read all of the answers. I find this surprising because they must get a ton of them! Maybe they do word searches on them to whittle them down. For example, they may have searched for the word “sugar” in the answer linked to above. For this: note that it is statistically equivalent to pick random answers until you get a correct one, discarding any wrong ones you get along the way (which is probably a very small number, like zero or one). I figure the producers do this. They certainly wouldn’t bother sifting out only the correct answers and then having a separate draw from just those. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/5 "2012-10-09T21:09:45Z")
Speaking of car talk does the puzzler seem ridiculously obvious to anyone else this week? ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/6 "2012-10-09T22:48:17Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Speaking of car talk does the puzzler seem ridiculously obvious to anyone else this week? It is a pretty easy one - I was driving in my car listening to the show and figured it out it almost instantly. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2012, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/7 "2012-10-09T23:53:44Z")
> [@](#): > > You might say, “Can I use the third dimension?” You can use any dimension you want. Trivial, by using time as the 4th dimension. And not very difficult in the standard three dimensions either. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/8 "2012-10-10T00:45:06Z")
As a side note, there are no more new Car Talk recordings being made [as of this month](http://www.wbur.org/2012/06/08/car-talk-retirement), so presumably the question of picking winners has become moot. (The producers are still constructing episodes from used and unused archival material, though, so the show will still air.) ---
**Author:** ![JackieLikesVariety](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackielikesvariety/32/296_2.png) [@JackieLikesVariety](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackieLikesVariety)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/9 "2012-10-10T01:20:18Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > As a side note, there are no more new Car Talk recordings being made [as of this month](http://www.wbur.org/2012/06/08/car-talk-retirement), so presumably the question of picking winners has become moot. (The producers are still constructing episodes from used and unused archival material, though, so the show will still air.) well, darn! I’m going to miss them (and reruns are not the same) ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/10 "2012-10-10T01:28:07Z")
Tom and Ray exaggerate for the purpose of a joke. Say it ain’t so. future shows will have unbroadcast material. they tape more material than they need when they do a show and only put part on the air. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/11 "2012-10-10T05:23:43Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Trivial, by using time as the 4th dimension. > > And not very difficult in the standard three dimensions either. > > -D/a I got it in two. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/12 "2012-10-10T12:20:58Z")
> [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](#): > > Trivial, by using time as the 4th dimension. > > And not very difficult in the standard three dimensions either. > > -D/a > [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I got it in two. booogus. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/13 "2012-10-10T13:24:16Z")
I have a lot to catchup on recent Cartalk episodes. But glancing at the show titles in the podcast feed, I am curious: There doesn’t seem to one final farewell show. Is that correct? (Granted, there will be new episodes mixed together from old material, but still). ---
**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:** [October 10, 2012, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/14 "2012-10-10T19:14:01Z")
Ok. So I guess I mistook their facetiousness for seriousness (what was I thinking?). So it sound like no one is aware of a time that the puzzler was not solved. ---
**Author:** ![Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2012, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-there-ever-a-car-talk-puzzler-no-one-answered-correctly/637252/15 "2012-10-10T20:21:22Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I got it in two. It was as easy as tic tac toe.