53 bicycles: A lateral thinking puzzle

The 51st person is presumably her (no longer?) true love. Very sad puzzle. :slight_smile:

Grats LHoD. Of course it was something simple.

Bravo! She found out her “true love” had been cheating.

Huh. I thought she’d just found out that her “true love” was the kind of dumbass who took things too far. Cool puzzle–is it original?

Yes. I had been trying to think up something new. The comment about everything relating to outdated concepts was interesting to follow. Still, the puzzle relates to an old carol. Best idea I could come up with.

The only problem I saw with it was that it doesn’t have an obvious twist in the problem statement. I think that these things, to work best, should have something in the initial statement that makes you go “Wait, what?”.

I liked it, how everything seemed disconnected, and then two pieces–the fruit being pears, and its connection to birds–made the whole thing fall into place. Well done!

On a side note, what many people don’t realize about that song is the receiver of the goods didn’t receive one partridge in a pear tree. They received 12 of them. Along with 22 turtle doves, 30 french hens, etc. Since each day, the receiver gets each listed item.

Great puzzle, Biotop!

I’m Jewish. I had to look up the song to find out that it was a Christmas Carol. I was totally lost. :mad:

Kidding, BTW.

(Not about having to look up the song, but I’m not mad. Well, not too much.)

Good job, biotop!

Yeah, a very good puzzle. Well done, Biotop! And brilliantly solved by LHoD.

This is a true story:

Because of a sailor, several people unhappily take an unexpected cold shower. 5 years pass and the sailor causes no more trouble. It’s the holiday season. He stuffs a duck for a gathering of people. Alas,* because of this* and for pretty much the same reason as before, more people take an unwanted cold shower.

Both incidents were reported in the newspapers.The sailor is famous. Who is he?

**Chronos ** does this one have enough twists? Or do I need to tell you about the duck’s hat? :smiley:

Did the sailor disrupt a hot water tank?
Did the cold showers occur aboard a ship?
By “stuffing a ducK” do you mean making a meal?
If not, did you mean taxidermy?
If not, is it a euphemism?
Did the sailor not have access to a functioning oven?
If so, did he look for an alternate means of cooking a meal?
Did the sailor get punished for it? (Not relevant. I just want to know.)

Did he set off the fire suppression sprinklers in a building?

Is everyone in this story human?

Is the sailor a famous fictional character?

Is the sailor a famous real person?

  1. Is it relevant to the story that he is a sailor?

  2. By sailor, do you mean a member of the Navy?

  3. If no to 2, do you mean that he pilots sailboats as a civilian?

  4. If no to 2 & 3, is he a merchant marine?

  5. Is “taking a shower” to be understood as “washing oneself under a waterflow?”

  6. If no to 5, did the people just get wet somehow?

No to all

No.

No
Yes.
No.