Was the thing they were delivering alive? Yes
Was the thing they were delivering a work of art? No
Was the thing they were delivering an object of historical significance? No
Was the thing they were delivering to be part of a collection of similar things? No
Was the thing they were delivering a human (of greater than infant age)? Yes
Were they delivering the thing because they expected to be paid or otherwise rewarded by the person they were delivering it to? No
Were they delivering the thing because they expected to be paid or otherwise rewarded by yet some other party? No
Were they delivering the thing as a gift? No
Were they delivering the thing because they wanted to be rid of it? Yes
Would the person they were attempting to deliver it to have been happy to have received the delivery? Unknown
If yes:
Was he taking her permanently, to raise her?
Was he taking her temporarily until some problem or situation had been resolved?
Was the man not there because circumstances beyond his control prevented him from showing up?
Was she delivered at some later time?
If yes:
Was he taking her permanently, to raise her? That was the idea.
Was he taking her temporarily until some problem or situation had been resolved? No
Was the man not there because circumstances beyond his control prevented him from showing up? No
Was she delivered at some later time? Yes. Delivered somewhere anyway.
Just to be clear: Was she ever delivered to the man who didn’t show up for that one meeting?
Or was the plan changed, and the girl was placed with someone else?
Just to be clear: Was she ever delivered to the man who didn’t show up for that one meeting? Correction, sorry. The delivery was later made to someone in Frankfurt. Sorry. Ugh.
Or was the plan changed, and the girl was placed with someone else? Yes
I was relying on bad memory. The delivery was next made somewhere else, but then 3 years later later made to someone else again in Frankfurt, but not to the same man.
Two women, an aunt and a niece, meeting a third person (also related to them, but male) at the location in Frankfurt. The two arrived in the same taxi cab. Their motivation and connection to the third person (other than being relations?) is unknown, but the third person knows the two women. Lots of people were aware of their scheduled time of arrival. The two women were not aware they had arrived at ‘an appointed time.’ But later their timely arrival was noticed by many.
The person they were there to meet was not there, but in Paris.
Knowing the identities of the arrivees or the third person they met would help solve the puzzle and at least one is famous.
The scheduled time was not intended to coincide with another event.
The two women intended to deliver something, the niece herself, to be raised by the man because her parents had died. The other woman wanted to be rid of the niece. The delivery was not successful. Instead, the niece was delivered to someone else. And then 3 years later, to someone else again, in Frankfurt.
At least two time pieces being used. The time pieces use gears, are mostly wristwatches and probably wind ups. For different reasons, there were most certainly electric clocks and maybe battery clocks involved. There is a critical electric clock that shaped events. However, this was before the quartz age.
These time pieces are not being used by the two women, but their timeliness was assured due to the certain wristwatches.
A similar situation could occur where the time value would be be different than 7 minutes, but in some limited time range. At least between some arbitrarily small time and an hour.
Anyone using the relevant time pieces would be late now.
The being late 7 minutes is due to some change in law or rules.
Two women, an aunt and a niece, meeting a third person (also related to them, but male) at the location in Frankfurt. YesThe two arrived in the same taxi cab. YesTheir motivation and connection to the third person (other than being relations?) is unknown, but the third person knows the two women. Yes Lots of people were aware of their scheduled time of arrival. YesThe two women were not aware they had arrived at ‘an appointed time.’ Yes But later their timely arrival was noticed by many. Yes. And to be fair it was “noticed” by a lot of people at the time!
The person they were there to meet was not there, but in Paris. Yes
Knowing the identities of the arrivees or the third person they met would help solve the puzzle and at least one is famous. Yes
The scheduled time was not intended to coincide with another event. Definately not.
The two women intended to deliver something, the niece herself, to be raised by the man because her parents had died. The other woman wanted to be rid of the niece. The delivery was not successful. Instead, the niece was delivered to someone else. And then 3 years later, to someone else again, in Frankfurt. Yes
At least two time pieces being used. YesThe time pieces use gears, are mostly wristwatches and probably wind ups. The timepieces most involved with the timely arrival were wristwatches, and I think from the time period involved mostly wind-up, but maybe battery too, I think For different reasons, there were most certainly electric clocks and maybe battery clocks involved Yes. There is a critical electric clock that shaped events. Yes However, this was before the quartz age. Yes
These time pieces are not being used by the two women, but their timeliness was assured due to the certain wristwatches. Yes!
A similar situation could occur where the time value would be be different than 7 minutes, but in some limited time range. Yes At least between some arbitrarily small time and an hour. Theoretically it could be longer but unlikely more than an hour or two.
Anyone using the relevant time pieces would be late now. No. If the arrivees were to arrive now, and the situation was otherwise the same, they would be late.
The being late 7 minutes is due to some change in law or rules. Yes
OK, so neither the aunt nor the niece used the relevant timepiece(s).
Were any relevant timepieces used by…
…the driver of the cab?
…the operator of any other form of transportation?
…the operator of any communication system?
…the relative who turned out to be in Paris?
…a government official?
I can’t find it, but I think that it’s stated somewhere that the difference between now and the event in the 20th century was due to a change in some law or regulation, correct?
If so, was the relevant law or regulation a German one?
One of some subset of Germany?
International, in an agreement between a small set of nations?
Global, in an agreement between a large set of nations, possibly even all of them?
Established by a non-governmental body?
Correction yet again. The niece went back to the relative’s house 3 years later, not another house. I think. Please, please don’t ask me about that anymore. I cannot bear it! It’s not important. Arrghh. It is torture I tell you! Deserved maybe, but arrghh!!!
OK, so neither the aunt nor the niece used the relevant timepiece(s). right
Were any relevant timepieces used by…
…the driver of the cab?
…the operator of any other form of transportation?
…the operator of any communication system? Not the wristwatches as far as I know, but at least some timepiece
…the relative who turned out to be in Paris?
…a government official?
No to the others
I can’t find it, but I think that it’s stated somewhere that the difference between now and the event in the 20th century was due to a change in some law or regulation, correct? Yes, there was a relevant rules change
If so, was the relevant law or regulation a German one? No
One of some subset of Germany? No
International, in an agreement between a small set of nations? No
Global, in an agreement between a large set of nations, possibly even all of them? No
Established by a non-governmental body?Yes
Hint Look at everything. Read the Folly summary (and sorry I forgot to credit Folly in my response). You all know about this, I am almost sure. Indeed I got the idea for this puzzle when it was recently referenced elsewhere on the SDMB!