Monday, June 30, 2008

Riddle #20 The Music Stops

I almost forgot my promise to post a new riddle every Sunday evening. I thought of it just as I was going to bed. So I'm late, but here goes. This riddle is a bit different. I'm almost sure it will require a lot of Q & A. Here goes:

The music stops and a woman dies. How and why did she die?

The correct answer has been guessed. See the comments section for the answer. I will post another riddle Sunday at midnight.

Lateral Thinking Puzzlers by Paul Sloane has lots of classic riddles, clues and answers. Click here to order it.

26 comments:

  1. Marcia, was the woman the musician?

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  2. Ems - was she on life support and listening to the radio or something and the power went out? I'm only guessing this because it recently was in the news about a woman who had survived for decades in an iron lung but died when there was a power failure.

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  3. Sonja, No, that is one answer that might work, but it's not the answer I'm looking for with this riddle. Keep guessing!

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  4. The music is playing while she is being marched to her execution?

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  5. No, Gilda, it's not for her execution.

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  6. Marcia, is the lady the ballerina on a music box?

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  7. No, Kim, that's not it, but it is a really cute answer.

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  8. Ems - is she playing musical chairs and falls off the chair - hitting her head?

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  9. Or driving an ice cream truck that crashes?

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  10. Sugarriver -- Sorry, neither of those answers is correct. Hmmm. So far no one has been even close. Should I give a clue? I guess you could keep guessing about what the woman was doing or her occupation.

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  11. Ems - this IS a hard one. I posted under another name earlier without realizing it, so been thinking about it for a whole week already! Sorry - guess you probably figured it was me when I started out with Ems.
    Does the music control whether or not the lady is moving? Does she have any control over whether the music is playing or not?

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  12. Ah, Sugarriver, I just figured it was another Idita-buddy. Anyway, great questions.

    I would say that the music influences whether or not the woman is moving.

    She does not have any control over whether the music is playing or not.

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  13. Does the riddle have anything to do with the saying, "It isn't over until the fat lady sings"?

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  14. Was she a tightrope walker? Maybe the music stopped for some reason and she lost her balance and fell?

    My other guess is that she was listening to the radio in the bathtub and it fell in so she was electrocuted and the music stopped?

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  15. No, it doesn't have anything to do with the saying, "It isn't over until the fat lady sings," though that is an intriguing thought.

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  16. Sara, you are very, very close! Yes, she was a tightrope walker, and yes, she did fall to her death. But she didn't exactly lose her balance. What you need to figure out is what the music stopping had to do with her falling.

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  17. Was she a blind tightrope walker... and the music stopping was her normal cue that she had reached her platform. Only this time the music stopped prematurely and she met an untimely death?

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  18. Yes, yes, that is correct! Only in my version, she is blindfolded, not blind. But that's basically the answer. Very good, anonymous! Who are you, anyway? Congratulations! This is a difficult puzzle. I will post another one next Sunday at midnight.

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  19. That's a hard one. I never would
    have guessed it.

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  20. I have a different version.
    the lady works at a radio tower and she is supposed to be interviewing someone. she find out her husband is cheating on her so she kills him and is driving back to the tower so she can have an alibi. the music stops and she knows that means she no longer has an alibi so she drives off a briged.

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  21. Mine is:
    "She" was a spider on a chair during a game of musical chairs. The music stopped and she died.

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  22. this doesn't make any sense since there's usually a safety net to catch a performer or a rope to keep her afloat. Furthermore, a rope feels much differently from a platform. You can tell the difference even if you're blindfolded.

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  23. Was the Music her life

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  24. easy. The woman is a blindfolded tightrope walker at a circus. The music ended a little early, and she knew that she reached the ends the music played, so she lost balance and fell to her death.

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  25. Thanks so much! My teacher is stumping us students, so I decided to go searching. This helped a whole lot!

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