Anastasia's Relative
Situation puzzles (sometimes called lateral thinking puzzles) are ones where you need to ask lots of yes or no questions to figure out what happened in the situation. These are good puzzles for groups where one person knows the puzzle and answers the questions.
Mrs. Smith had flown all the way from Idaho to sit at this outdoor cafe in Russia and attempt to prove to a duchess that she was the lost princess Anastasia (which she, of course, was not). It seemed to be going well, when the duchess named a member of the former royal family and asked what relation he was to Anastasia. Mrs. Smith froze.
As it so happened, one of her friends was working at the cafe and he had agreed to listen and see if he could help her. He knew the answer, and though he could not talk to Mrs. Smith, write her a note, or make any obvious gestures, he got the message across. Mrs. Smith answered correctly, but later messed up when she agreed to give a blood sample (different puzzle).
Your question is, how did the friend tell Mrs. Smith who the relative was?
HintThe relative was Anastasia's father.
The friend was not a waiter.
Mrs. Smith knew a little something about music.
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Answer
The friend was in the small orchestra playing at the outdoor cafe. Between the pieces, he played three notes that, to anyone else, would sound just like tuning, but Mrs. Smith realized they were D-A-D.
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Comments
(user deleted)
Mar 26, 2003
| Why didn't he just blink it out to her in morse code? |
LAFFALOT
Mar 26, 2003
| There could be a hundred different answers and all be correct |
tissue   
Mar 28, 2003
| Ah, but I think this is the best answer. True, there could be a hundred different answers, but that is Situation. It's a Situation answer. And I personally think that this is an all-time great, and it is going straight to my favorites folder. |
frankenweoburger
Mar 29, 2003
| thanks, tissue. always like yours, too. |
singcan
Mar 29, 2003
| I loved it! I have already added it to my favourites! Thanx for the great teaser......................... |
Christina0213
Mar 30, 2003
| That's great! Hehe, I think she would have been in trouble if the relative was her uncle though... ;) |
od-1
Apr 01, 2003
| Good one I thought he stepped on an ant, used sign language or someting simple like that . this how ever was most clever. well done. |
frankenweoburger
Apr 09, 2003
| Abrakadabra, in a situation teaser, unlike a detective story, all the clues to the answer don't need to be in the question. Thanks, everybody. |
smartgirl2000
Apr 15, 2003
| THAT WAS GREEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
smart432890
Apr 29, 2003
| hahahah too easyyyyyyyyyy |
Codammanus
May 17, 2003
| I like that from beginning to end. To: smart432890 easy? You must be a musician. |
jimbo 
Sep 11, 2003
| Mrs Smith must have been some musician. She has perfect pitch if she could recognise the 3 notes played as D-A-D. Try it! |
mollamusic9
Nov 16, 2003
| not really you could just know the strings of the 4 orchestra instraments. They all have an A string and a D string. |
username 
Jul 30, 2004
| very nice, i got it. it was so simple... |
sweetime
Jul 07, 2005
| it was an ok teaser, i'm just wondering how the musician friend managed to overhear the conversation when he was supposed to be playing songs to entertain the other diners... |
tpg76
Nov 03, 2007
| I realize this is dated, but read this today (for the first time) and had two other answers come to mind immediately, both supporting the conclusion "Dad".
(1) He WAS a waiter, and was carrying a soda (Pop)
(2) Since he was in Russia, he kept muttering "Da, da, da..." ("Yes"), which would be very inconspicuous there. |
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