# 53 bicycles: A lateral thinking puzzle **URL:** \ **Category:** Thread Games\ **Created:** [July 9, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868 "2017-07-09T19:51:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 79
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1561 "2017-09-22T06:51:29Z")
Seems pretty straightforward. Her father was of Jewish ancestry but he was either ignorant of that or he had been hiding it from everyone. Possibly something to do with WW2. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1562 "2017-09-22T18:31:52Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Does it have anything to do with [matrilineality in Judaism](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matrilineality_in_Judaism)? No. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1563 "2017-09-22T18:35:56Z")
> [@newme](#): > > 1.)Lets call the woman DAUGHTER. Is DAUGHTER human? Yes. > [@](#): > > 2.)Lets call DAUGHTER’S biological mother MARY. Would any other person besides MARY be considered her Mother in any way relevant to this puzzle? No. > [@](#): > > 2.A) Does MARY identify as Irish Catholic? Yes. > [@](#): > > 3.)Lets call DAUGHTER’S biological father PATRICK. Is PATRICK 100% Jewish? Yes. > [@](#): > > 4.) Does PATRICK identify as Irish Catholic? Yes. > [@](#): > > 5.) Would any other person besides PATRICK be considered DAUGHTER’S father in any way relevant to this puzzle? No. > [@](#): > > 6.)Is DAUGHTER a chimera? No. > [@](#): > > 7.) Does DAUGHTER have any meaningful amount of DNA that she did not inherit from MARY or Patrick? No. > [@](#): > > 8.)Are MARY and PATRICK human? Yes. > [@](#): > > 9.) The puzzle references “family”. Are DAUGHTER, MARY and PATRICK in the “family.” Yes. > [@](#): > > 10.)Is there anyone outside of DAUGHTER, MARY, and PATRICK in the “family” and relevant to this puzzle? Yes. > [@](#): > > 11.) If the answer to both 3) and 4) is yes, is reconciling that the key to the puzzle? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1564 "2017-09-22T18:39:22Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Seems pretty straightforward. Her father was of Jewish ancestry but he was either ignorant of that or he had been hiding it from everyone. Possibly something to do with WW2. You have grasped the essentials of the puzzle, but there is still a very specific answer that requires lateral thinking. The answer has nothing to do with WW2. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1565 "2017-09-22T18:51:58Z")
A line questioning I didn’t see asked. (Forgive me if I missed it). Is her biological father the same as the man she actually called father? Did her mother have an affair with a Jewish person? If not, did she in any other manner have sex with a Jewish person who was not her husband? Was there an identity mix-up? A different direction, if the above thinking is wrong: Were her paternal grandparents Jewish? Did they know they were Jewish? Did anyone else in the family who would have been living when the father was born? Also, is [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) relevant, other than saying it happened fairly recently? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1566 "2017-09-22T18:59:13Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Is her biological father the same as the man she actually called father? Yes. > [@](#): > > Did her mother have an affair with a Jewish person? No. > [@](#): > > If not, did she in any other manner have sex with a Jewish person who was not her husband? No. > [@](#): > > Was there an identity mix-up? Yes. > [@](#): > > Were her paternal grandparents Jewish? Yes. > [@](#): > > Did they know they were Jewish? Yes. > [@](#): > > Did anyone else in the family who would have been living when the father was born? Yes. > [@](#): > > Also, is [Ancestry.com](http://Ancestry.com) relevant, other than saying it happened fairly recently? No. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1567 "2017-09-22T19:35:05Z")
Was her father switched at birth at the hospital with a Jewish child? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [September 22, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1568 "2017-09-22T19:48:15Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > Was her father switched at birth at the hospital with a Jewish child? Her father _was_ the Jewish child, but you’ve basically got it. It’s an absolutely fantastic [true story](https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/?utm_term=.9cba3553ca7f). An Irish child and a Jewish child born in the same hospital, on the same day, delivered by the same doctor, with sequential birth certificates one number apart. They were sent home with the wrong parents, and lived their entire lives in the wrong families. They died without learning the truth. If the Jewish man’s daughter (who was raised as an Irish Catholic) hadn’t done an Ancestry DNA test, and persisted until she found out the truth, no one would ever have known. It makes you wonder how many other people are walking around with the wrong identity. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1569 "2017-09-23T04:01:31Z")
\*\*Back in the late twentieth century there was a rock music festival held several times in honor of a certain event. On each of these occasions, numerous bands would play energetically for increasingly larger and livelier crowds of merrymaking music, dance and party lovers. But looking back at the history of the festival (an event which alas is no more), I notice that among the list of many well-known, lesser-known and frankly obscure rock groups involved, there was among them one band who was there every single time — but whose members\* never\* played a note or sang a song for the festival. How come?\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1570 "2017-09-23T04:11:47Z")
Were the band all dead? Or some of them? Did the event take place at or near their graves? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1571 "2017-09-23T04:22:12Z")
Were the members of the band there before the band was formed? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1572 "2017-09-23T04:26:48Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Were the band all dead? Or some of them? > > Did the event take place at or near their graves? No to both. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1573 "2017-09-23T04:28:56Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Were the members of the band there before the band was formed? No. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1574 "2017-09-23T04:51:29Z")
Was this a “band” as in the sense of a musical band? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1575 "2017-09-23T05:27:59Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Was this a “band” as in the sense of a musical band? No. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1576 "2017-09-23T05:33:31Z")
Was it a band of people? ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1577 "2017-09-23T05:47:09Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Was it a band of people? No ---
**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 23, 2017, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1578 "2017-09-23T12:16:03Z")
Is the “band” a group of any organisms? Is the “band” a group of discrete objects? Is the “band” a non-counted quantity of substance? Is the “band” made out of rubber? ---
**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 23, 2017, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1579 "2017-09-23T12:17:26Z")
Is the “band” related to the event which the festival was held in commemoration of? Would knowing what the event being commemorated was help? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2017, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868/1580 "2017-09-23T12:49:50Z")
Is the band an inanimate object? Is it made out of : - fabric/ cloth ? - metal ? - plastic ? - elastic? - paper? Is the band a group of living beings? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=78) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/53-bicycles-a-lateral-thinking-puzzle/790868.md?page=80)