Puzzle Test Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The moderator is Kate.

Gary is the attorney in seat 4, and the writer and the attorney sit on either side of the moderator in seat 3, so the writer is in seat 2. Lane is the pilot and Heloise is stated not to be the moderator. The moderator cannot sit next to Jarrod or Lane, and Gary is already the attorney, so the moderator is Kate.

Lane (pilot), Gary (attorney) and Heloise (not the moderator) are ruled out directly.

Answer: A

Jarrod sits in Seat #1.

Kate is the moderator in seat 3, and Gary the attorney is in seat 4. Heloise sits between Kate and Jarrod, so she must be next to Kate, and the only free seat next to seat 3 is seat 2. Jarrod is then on the other side of Heloise, in seat 1. Lane takes the last seat, seat 5.

Seat 3 is Kate's, seat 4 is Gary's and seat 2 is Heloise's, so only seat 1 is left for Jarrod.

Answer: D

Jarrod is the explorer.

The occupations are moderator (Kate), pilot (Lane) and attorney (Gary). Heloise sits in seat 2, on one side of the moderator, so she is the writer. That leaves the explorer for Jarrod in seat 1, and the attorney in seat 4 is not next to him, as the clue requires.

Moderator, pilot and attorney belong to Kate, Lane and Gary, so none of them can be Jarrod's occupation.

Answer: A

If Dinesh plays Polo, Bhushan plays Cricket.

Fix what the clues determine. Eknath is the Manager and does not play Polo; Squash is the Writer's game and Cricket the Doctor's, and Ajay has Tennis, so Eknath plays Hockey. Ajay is not the Professor, Doctor (Cricket), Writer (Squash) or Manager, so Ajay is the Architect.

Bhushan, Chandru and Dinesh share Cricket, Polo and Squash. With Dinesh on Polo, Squash must go to Chandru, because Bhushan does not play Squash. That leaves Cricket for Bhushan.

Ajay (Tennis) and Eknath (Hockey) are already placed, and Chandru plays Squash, so the other options fail.

Answer: B

The person who plays polo is a Professor.

From the clues, Ajay is the Architect and plays Tennis, and Eknath is the Manager and plays Hockey. The other three, Bhushan, Chandru and Dinesh, are the Professor, the Doctor and the Writer, and play Cricket, Polo and Squash.

The Doctor plays Cricket and the Writer plays Squash, so whoever plays Polo is neither of them and must be the Professor. This holds whichever of the three plays Polo, which is why 'Cannot be determined' is wrong. The Architect plays Tennis, not Polo.

Answer: A

The Architect is Ajay.

Ajay plays Tennis, so he is not the Doctor (Cricket) or the Writer (Squash). Clue 1 says he is not the Professor, and clue 5 makes Eknath the Manager. The only profession left for Ajay is Architect, the fifth profession named in clue 6.

Eknath is the Manager. Bhushan and Chandru are among the Professor, Doctor and Writer, so neither can be the Architect.

Answer: C

The Manager plays Hockey.

The Manager is Eknath (clue 5), who does not play Polo. Squash belongs to the Writer and Cricket to the Doctor, both of whom are other people, and Ajay plays Tennis. Of the five games only Hockey remains, so Eknath plays Hockey.

Squash and Tennis are taken by the Writer and Ajay, and the answer is fully determined, so 'Cannot be determined' is wrong.

Answer: C

E can start at 2 p.m.

A takes 9 to 11 a.m. With B now taking 2 hours, B runs 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and C, which needs A and B done, runs 1 to 2 p.m. D runs alongside B and C, from 11 a.m., for 3 hours, which ends at 2 p.m. E needs A, B, C and D all complete, so it starts at 2 p.m., when both C and D end.

12 noon and 1 p.m. are too early, since B or C are still running. 3 p.m. would add an hour of idle time that nothing in the information requires.

Answer: B

All tasks can be done by 3 p.m.

With B taking one hour, A runs 9 to 11, B 11 to 12 and C 12 to 1. D runs alongside B and C from 11 a.m. for 3 hours, so it ends at 2 p.m. E needs A, B, C and D complete, so it starts at 2 p.m. and takes one hour, ending at 3 p.m.

C finishes at 1 p.m. but D does not, so 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. are too early. 4 p.m. needs a delay that is not in the information.

Answer: A

The two women arrived in the order 1 and 2.

The order of arrival is: 1 Ashutosh and Nitu (Furniture), 2 Prem and Rinku (Garments), 3 Rajiv and Rosy (Jewellery), 4 Pappu and Rupu (Publishing, the "Books" of the paper).

The clues give three chains of couples in a row of four: the Garments couple, then Rajiv, then Rupu's couple; Prem, then Rosy's couple; Ashutosh, then Rinku's couple, then the Jewellery couple. If Rajiv were second he would clash with Ashutosh in the third chain unless both sat in the first two places, and that leaves Rinku with Rajiv in Furniture, which the clues forbid. So Rajiv is third and Ashutosh first. The Garments couple is then second and is Rinku's, and the Jewellery couple is Rajiv's. Prem, who must come just before Rosy, is second, so Rosy is Rajiv's wife. Pappu (Books) is fourth with Rupu, and Nitu is with Ashutosh in Furniture.

Furniture is the first couple (Nitu) and Garments is the second couple (Rinku), so the two women come in the order 1 and 2. 2 and 1 reverses them, and 3 is the Jewellery couple.