53 bicycles: A lateral thinking puzzle

Thread Games
1081

  1. I don’t think so.

  2. No.

1082
  1. Was Jim a DJ?
  2. If yes, did he put the record on and leave the studio, expecting to have a window of opportunity to do something?
1083
  1. Yes.
  2. Yes.

I’ll call this “solved” at this point. Jim was DJ caught up in bad business with the mob. He pre-recorded a show, put it on and planned to escape. When the record skipped, he knew the mob would figure it out and pursue him. Shot himself instead of facing them.

1084

**A farmer drove his pickup truck down the highway in front of his farm, turned on to a muddy side road, and instantly became stuck in the mud. No worries, his farm was nearby. He walked to his farm and soon returned on his tractor with a tow-rope in hand. He attached the tow-rope to his tractor and the back of his truck and began to pull the track back towards the highway. He was seated in the tractor pulling. As a result of his efforts, he died.

What happened?**

1085

The rope snapped and the whiplash effect decapitated him.

1086

Did the part of the tractor he tied the rope to snap off when he began the pull?
Did the rope break?
Did something hit him to cause a fatal wound?

1087

I’ll assume you have this as a question.

No.

  1. Yes.
  2. No.
  3. Yes

I can tell this one is too easy.

1088
  1. Did the truck hit him?
1089

Did the bumper fly off and hit him?

Did some other small piece attached the rope fly off and hit him?

1090

No

No.

Yes.
This one was lame. It was the trailer-hitch, which had a rusted bolt. It broke and the ball of the hitch hit him in the head and he died.

1091

Sorry to interrupt the current conundrum, but I think you were way too generous in calling this one solved. Having said that, thank you.

If anyone was wondering why I thought about a DJ, there was a (possibly apocryphal) story about a DJ in England putting on a religious record and leaving the studio thinking he had 20 minutes to do what he wanted. Instead, what went to air was, “Oh God, oh God, oh God …”. Sounds too good to be true, but it was what made me think of the solution.

1092

OK, Snopes says this really happened.

Jets weren’t present, but somehow a lawnmower took to the air and killed one man and injured another. What happened?

1093

  1. Is the lawnmower a person and not a machine? (you know, like a pickle slicer)

  2. Is it a push mower?

  3. Is it a self-propelled mower?

  4. Is it a riding mower?

  5. Was a hill or other incline involved?

  6. Was the lawnmower converted into a drone?

  7. Was the lawnmower converted in some other manner for the purposes of taking the air?

1094

1: Was some other machine involved?
2: Was an explosion involved?
3: Was any chemical reaction other than the combustion of hydrocarbons involved?
4: Was the lawnmower electric-powered?
5: Was the lawnmower fuel-powered?

1095
  1. No
  2. It looked like one
  3. In a manner of speaking, yes
  4. No
    5, No
  5. Not exactly, but you’re warm
  6. No
1096
  1. Yes
  2. No
  3. No
  4. Yes
  5. No
1097

Was it converted to mow by remote control?

Were the injuries caused by loss of control of the mower?

1098

No

Yes

1099

Did they have a grass roof?

If so, was the lawn mower cutting the grass roof?

1100

No

No