Brain Teasers
Clever Jenny XV
Situation
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.Situation
One Sunday afternoon, Tom, Dana, and Jenny were in Tom's car, driving to the next town to visit Dana's mother for her birthday. Tom was sporting a suit; Jenny and Dana were all dressed up in their Sunday best, with high heels and hose; and all of them were in a festive mood, laughing and chattering. They had packed a big picnic lunch, a cake, flowers, and gifts for the dear lady.
Jenny leaned over to talk to Tom, "Say, your Chevvy is still running pretty nicely! What year is it?"
Tom hemmed and hawed, then replied, "I'm not really sure. My Dad gave it to us when we got married. I have to work on it sometimes and change the oil when it..."
All of a sudden, they heard a wap-wap-wap! There were some ominous rustling and flapping noises coming from the front end of the car. Tom, muttering under his breath, pulled the aging vehicle off onto the shoulder and stopped. Lifting the hood, Tom found the fan belt in shreds.
"Of all the....!" He grumbled. "We can't go on without the fan belt!"
Dana offered, "Isn't there a service station a couple miles down this road? Maybe they can fix it."
Tom replied, "We could go a few miles before the engine starts heating up too much. Let's go!"
At the service station, the mechanic told them, "Yeah, I could fix that there, but I ain't got the right belt for yer car. Them parts stores ain't open till tomorra!"
As Tom groaned and Dana got out her cell phone to call her mother, Jenny slipped into the restroom. In a few minutes, she emerged and went to speak to the mechanic. After a minute or two, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Yup, this oughter fill the bill fer a little while, prolly till you-uns git home!"
In a few minutes, the three of them were happily on their way, while the mechanic grinned as he counted his tip.
Dana laughed, "Jenny, what on earth did you tell that guy?"
What had Jenny said to the mechanic?
Jenny leaned over to talk to Tom, "Say, your Chevvy is still running pretty nicely! What year is it?"
Tom hemmed and hawed, then replied, "I'm not really sure. My Dad gave it to us when we got married. I have to work on it sometimes and change the oil when it..."
All of a sudden, they heard a wap-wap-wap! There were some ominous rustling and flapping noises coming from the front end of the car. Tom, muttering under his breath, pulled the aging vehicle off onto the shoulder and stopped. Lifting the hood, Tom found the fan belt in shreds.
"Of all the....!" He grumbled. "We can't go on without the fan belt!"
Dana offered, "Isn't there a service station a couple miles down this road? Maybe they can fix it."
Tom replied, "We could go a few miles before the engine starts heating up too much. Let's go!"
At the service station, the mechanic told them, "Yeah, I could fix that there, but I ain't got the right belt for yer car. Them parts stores ain't open till tomorra!"
As Tom groaned and Dana got out her cell phone to call her mother, Jenny slipped into the restroom. In a few minutes, she emerged and went to speak to the mechanic. After a minute or two, his eyes lit up, and he said, "Yup, this oughter fill the bill fer a little while, prolly till you-uns git home!"
In a few minutes, the three of them were happily on their way, while the mechanic grinned as he counted his tip.
Dana laughed, "Jenny, what on earth did you tell that guy?"
What had Jenny said to the mechanic?
Hint
Could they use duct tape?Answer
Jenny answered Dana, "Dana, when I ducked into the restroom, I took off my nylon hose and then offered them to the mechanic as a fix. That fellow was pretty savvy about older cars. We'll probably be able to get to your mom's and back home before the 'band aid' shreds! My dad once told me that you could run a car nearly a hundred miles using a pair of nylon hose in the place of a fan belt. It kind of gives us a leg up, so to speak!" She grinned, impishly. And they all laughed as Tom pulled into the driveway.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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Comments
I always enjoy the Clever Jenny ones, but this is one of the first that I got right away.
Nice and entertaining story. This little trick is old hat to anyone who grew up working on cars
Fer shure, fer shure!
You can't even see the fan in newer cars!
You can't even see the fan in newer cars!
Hey! I learned something new today! YAY! The clever jenny teasers are my favorite.
figured something in the restroom lol.
Easy for us oldies who have experience with older vehicles. Modern vehicles are much more difficult to jury rig. I did an engine belt recently but the generator is much too stiff to be turned by a nylon stocking and since the fans are electric I ran out of battery before I got the car home. I had to stop 3 times to let the radiator cool down and with only about 3 km to go she wouldn't start. never mind, got a lift to a spares shop and got a new belt and fitted it in the street. Way to go! Good teaser.
Fer shure, Jimbo! Technology is going to make dinasaurs out of shade tree mechanics! Guess that's both good and bad.
Very good teaser....I have liked jenny teasers...The author has a great intelligence to write these type of teasers...Well Done...
Thanks for the nice comment! Jenny is taking a break from doing teasers for a while. Mosca's work (the stuff that pays the bills!) has been pretty intense lately!
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