India, Jan. 12 -- When pioneering puzzler Mukul Sharma died some years ago, his friend Pritish Nandy, who had launched Sharma's Mindsport column in The Illustrated Weekly of India in the 1980s, observed that any puzzle works when they are packaged well. It's the story around the puzzle that is paramount; in addition, Sharma's irreverent writing style was out of this world.

What we can infer from Nandy's observation is that easiness or difficulty is incidental. The puzzle I have crafted below is somewhat on the easier side, but if you find solving it a fun experience, that should be all that matters.

# Puzzle 177.1

Five years ago, a friend of mine went on a work trip to the United States. Since it was a paid trip lasting only a few days...