Puzzle Test Questions and Answers

Answer: C

The champion is Rohtak Rockers.

Four teams playing each other once make six matches, and the statements settle all six:

• Warangal Warriors beat Vellore Vikings and Thapar Thunders.
• Thapar Thunders beat Vellore Vikings.
• Rohtak Rockers beat Thapar Thunders, Warangal Warriors and Vellore Vikings.

So Rohtak Rockers win all three of their matches, Warangal Warriors win two, Thapar Thunders one and Vellore Vikings none. Warangal Warriors are the trap: they win twice, but one of their matches is a defeat by Rohtak Rockers.

Answer: C

If Aman is not selected, Raghavan must be selected.

Without Aman, the team of three comes from Pavan, Sravan, Raghavan, Dhawan and Bhavan. Pavan and Sravan cannot both be chosen, and Raghavan and Dhawan go together or not at all.

If Raghavan and Dhawan were both left out, the team would have to be Pavan, Sravan and Bhavan, which breaks the first rule. So Raghavan and Dhawan are both in, and the third member is any one of Pavan, Sravan or Bhavan.

Bhavan and Pavan are each only one possible choice for the third place, so neither must be selected. Since Raghavan always is, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: B

At most 4 lights can be on together.

The rules are: kitchen on means study off; dining on means kitchen on; study on means hall on. The kitchen and study lights can never be on together, so all 5 is impossible.

Switch on the kitchen, dining room, hall and bedroom lights, with the study off. Every rule holds: the kitchen is on, so the study is off; the dining room is on and so is the kitchen; the study rule does not apply.

Choosing the study instead forces the kitchen off, which forces the dining room off, leaving at most study, hall and bedroom: only 3. So 4 is the maximum, and 3 and 2 are below it.

Answer: C

The person is Nirmala.

Two of the four sociology postgraduates (Amala, Kamla, Komala and Nirmala) are bank employees. Kamla is one; Amala and Komala are unemployed, so the other must be Nirmala.

Nirmala is also named among the tennis players, so she is both. Kamla's tennis status is not given, Komala is unemployed, Amala is unemployed, and Shyamala (the commerce postgraduate) is not shown to be either.

Answer: B

The teacher with the most subjects is B.

Collect each teacher's subjects:

• A: Hindi, English, Mathematics (3).
• B: Hindi, English, Geography, History, French (5).
• C: English, Geography (2).
• D: Mathematics, Hindi (2).
• E: History, French (2).

B appears in three of the four pairs, which is why B teaches the most.

Note that each sentence names a pair of teachers and a pair of subjects, so a teacher named in more sentences picks up more subjects.

Answer: B

The correct statements cannot be identified for 1 suspect.

If B were the murderer, D's second statement would be true, so D's first, 'C is innocent', would be false, making C a murderer too, which is impossible. So B is innocent: D's II is false, D's I is true, and C is innocent. C's II, 'B is innocent', is then true, so C's I, 'I was sleeping', is false.

The murderer is A or D. If A were the murderer, both of A's statements would be false, since the murderer used a knife and was in town. So A is innocent, B's I is false and B's II is true, and the murderer is D.

The true statements of B, C and D are fixed. For A, one of 'never touched a knife' and 'not in town' is true, but nothing settles which, so only A's case stays open.

Answer: D

The statement that must be incorrect is C was sleeping on the night of the murder.

As worked out for this set, B is innocent, so C's second statement, 'B is innocent', is true. Since each suspect makes exactly one true statement, C's first statement, 'I was sleeping on the night of the murder', must be false. That also agrees with B's true statement that he played cards with C the entire night.

B's statement about playing cards with C is true, not incorrect. Of A's two statements one is true and one false, but the information does not show which, so neither of them must be incorrect.

Answer: C

The second statements must be true for B and C only.

From the solution of this set: B's second statement (playing cards with C) is true, because his first, 'A is the murderer', is false. C's second statement, 'B is innocent', is true. D's second statement, 'B is the murderer', is false, since D's true statement is 'C is innocent'. For A, it cannot be determined which statement is true, so A's second statement is not necessarily true.

So 'D only' is wrong, 'C only' leaves out B, and 'A, B and C only' wrongly includes A.

Answer: D

The murderer is D.

B cannot be the murderer: if he were, D's statement 'B is the murderer' would be true, so D's other statement, 'C is innocent', would be false, making C guilty too, but there is only one murderer. C is innocent, because D's true statement is now 'C is innocent'.

A cannot be the murderer either: the murder was done with a knife at the victim's home in town, so if A were the murderer both 'I have never touched a knife' and 'I was not in town' would be false, but each suspect has one true statement. With A, B and C cleared, D is the murderer, which also makes B's statement 'A is the murderer' false and his card game with C true, as required.

Answer: D

The statement that is not possible is Ferguson is 20 years old.

Six cousins of different ages from 17 to 22 must be exactly 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22, with Eeshwar 22. Ferguson's age lies between Bharat's and Dinesh's, Amit is older than Bharat, and Chandan is older than Dinesh.

If Ferguson were 20, one of Bharat or Dinesh would have to be older than 20, that is 21. If Bharat were 21, Amit would have to be 22, but that is Eeshwar. If Dinesh were 21, Chandan would have to be 22, the same clash. So Ferguson cannot be 20.

The others are possible: for example Bharat 17, Ferguson 18, Amit 19, Dinesh 20, Chandan 21 makes Dinesh 20 and Ferguson 18; and Bharat 17, Amit 18, Ferguson 19, Dinesh 20, Chandan 21 makes Ferguson 19.