The Urgent Haircut

Feb 26, 2022

It's time for the new puzzler. It's an automotive puzzler.

Now imagine this scene. A fellow is driving. He's driving across the desert in Nevada. And he finds himself in desperate need of a haircut.

So he takes the next exit 411. A little one-horse town named One Horse, Nevada.

You got it? Is the scene set? I mean, can you see this?

And as luck would have it in One Horse, Nevada, there were two barber shops. Can you believe that? So he has to figure out which one to have his hair cut in, right?

So he goes to barber shop number 1, and he looks in the window. And there are no customers in this barber shop and the barber shop was kind of mess. Even the barber, who's the only one in the place, is kind of messy. He's unshaven. He's got a lousy shirt on, the place looks terrible, there's hair on the floor and his hair cut is even lousy.

So the guy remembers that the other barber shop is at the other end of town. So he moseys along, which is what you do in a one horse town. So he moseys on down to barber shop B. And he looks in the window and that looks terrific. It's nice and neat and clean the mirrors are nice and shiny. And even the barber himself looks neat and tidy and well groomed, with a great haircut and even one of those white jackets. Comb and scissors in the pocket.

So there you have it. Barber shop number 1: lousy looking barber, lousy hair cut. Barber Shop number B: Neat place, well-groomed barber, nice white shop coat, nice haircut. And he has to decide which barber shop to frequent.

So this is a two part puzzler. Part 1 is which barber shop should he choose? And part B is why?

 

Answer: 

Well, the answer is very simple. In Little One Horse, Nevada there are only two barber shops and it's perfectly logical that one barber must get his hair cut from the other barber. Right?

So the truth is that the guy must go to the barber who has the lousiest looking haircut because he only can assume he got that haircut from the neat guy, right?

Of course, the guy with a neat-looking shop is a lousy barber. Why is your shop so neat? There are no customers!

But his hair looks neat. Because he gets his haircuts from the slob.

Instead of trading in your old car for pennies on the dollar, donate it to your favorite NPR station. They will turn it into the programs you love. Here's how
 


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