Puzzles

Puzzles are, information given for a sequence

or in jumbled or an order of thing which needs to
arranged systematically.
There is no fixed rule to solve these problems. Try to analyse the given
information into a meaningful form, the only way to solve these problems is
using your logical and analytical ability over interlinked information or data
provided in the question.

Analytical Puzzles

Directions (Q.nos. 1-4) Read the following information carefully and answer
the questions given below:

There are five friends – Shailendra, Keshav, Madhav, Ashis and Rakesh,
Shailendar is shorter than keshav but taller than Rakesh. Madhav is the
tallest. Ashish is a litter shorter than Keshav and a little taller than
Shailendra.
1. Who is the shortest?
(a) Rakesh (b) Shailender (c)Ashish (d)Keshav

2. If they stand in the order of their heights, who will be in the middle
(a) Keshav (b) Rakesh (c) Shailender (d) Ashish

3. If they stand in the order of increasing heights, who will be the second?
(a) Ashish (b) Shailender (c) Rakesh (d) Keshav

4. Who is taller than Ashish but shorter than Madhav?

(a) Rakesh (b) Keshav (c) Shailender (d) Data inadequare

Directions (5-7): Study the following information carefully and answer the
given questions.

Seven persons namely Prem, Tara, Madan, Jagan, Virendar, Raghu and Waris
are good friends and are studying in MBA, engineering and medical courses.
Three are doing MBA course, two are in engineering course and another two
are in medical course. Each of them has a very distinct and favourite colour
choice ranging from blue, red, yellow, white, black, pink and brown but not
necessarily in the same orde. None doing MBA likes either red or black. Madan
is doing engineering and he likes blue. Raghu is going medical and likes
brown. Jagan is doing MBA and likes yellow. Prem who does not. like red is
in the same discipline of Raghu. Tara is in the same discipline of Madan.
Virender does not like pink.

5. Which of the following groups is doing MBA?

(a) Jagan, Raghu and Madan (b) Virendar, Waris and Tara
 Puzzles

(c) Jagan, Virendar and Waris (d) Jagan, Prem and

Raghu

6. What is the colour combination choice of those who are in medical

discipline?
(a) Brown and pink (b) Black and white
(c) Black and brown (d) Yellow and black

7. Which colour does Virendar like?

(a) Yellow (b) Pink (c) White (d) Brown

Directions (8-10): Read the following information carefully and then answer
the questions based on them.

Ravi and Kunal are good in hockey and volleyball. Sachin and Ravi are good
in hockey and baseball. Gaurav and Kunal are good in volleyball and cricket.
Sachin, Gaurav and Sagar are good in baseball and football.

8. Who is good in hockey, cricket and volleyball?

(a) Sachin (b) Kunal (c) Sagar (d) Ravi

9. Who is good in baseball, cricket, volleyball and football?

(a) Sachin (b) Kunal (c) Gaurav (d) Sagar

10. Who is good in football and the baseball but not good in hockey, volleyball
and cricket?
(a) None (b) Kunal (c) Gaurav (d) Sagar

Directions (Example Nos. 11-15): Read the following information to answer

the questions given below.

From a group of six boys M, N, O, P, Q and R and five girls G, H, I, J and K a

team of six is to be selected. Some of the criteria of selection are as follows

I. M and J go together.

II. O cannot be placed with N.

III. I cannot go with J.

IV. N goes with H.

V. P and Q have to be together.

VI. K and R go together.

 Puzzles

VII. Unless otherwise stated these criteria are

applicable to all the following questions.

11. If the team consists of two girls and I is one of them, the other members
are

(a) GMRPQ (b) KOPQR (c) HNOPQ (d) KRMNP

12. If the team has four boys including O and R, the members of the team
other than O and R are

(a) HIPQ (b) GJPQ (c) GKPQ (d) GJMP

13. If four members are boys, which of the following cannot constitute the
team?

(a) GJMOPQ (b) JKMNOR (c) HJMNPQ (d) JKMPQR

14. If both K and P are members of the team and three boys in all are
included in the team, the members of the team other than K and P are

(a) GIRQ (b) HIRQ (c) GJRM (d) IJRQ

15. If the team has three girls including J and K, the members of the team
other than J and K are?

(a) GHNR (b) MORG (c) MNOG (d) NHOR

Key:
1-a 2-d 3-d 4-b 5-c 6-c 7-c 8-b 9-c 10-d 11-b 12-c 13-b 14-a 15-b

UPSC PYQS

1. A, B and C are three places such that there are three different roads
from A to B, four different roads from B to C and three different roads
from A to C. In how many different ways can one travel from A to C
using these roads?
(a) 10 (b) 13 (c) 15 (d) 36

2. In a tournament of Chess having 150 entrants, a player is eliminated

whenever he loses a match. It is given that no match results in a
tie/draw. How many matches are played in the entire tournament?
(a) 151 (b) 150 (c) 149 (d)
148

3. Five friends P, Q, X, Y and Z purchased some notebooks. The relevant

information is given below:
1) Z purchased 8 notebooks more than X did
 Puzzles

2) P and Q together purchased 21 notebooks

3) Q purchased 5 notebooks less than P did
4) X and Y together purchased 28 notebooks
5) P purchased 5 notebooks more than X did
If each notebook is priced 40, then what is the total cost of all the
notebooks?
(a) 2,600 (b) 2,400 (c) 2,360 (d) 2,320

4. Six lectures A, B, C, D, E and F, each of one hour duration, are

scheduled between 8:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.
Consider the Question and two Statements given below:
Question: Which lecture is in the third period?
Statement-1: Lecture F is preceded by A and followed by C.
Statement-2: There is no lecture after lecture B.
Which one of the following is correct in respect of the Question and the
Statements?
(a) Statement-1 alone is sufficient to answer the Question
(b) Statement-2 alone is sufficient to answer the Question
(c) Both Statement-1 and Statement-2 are sufficient to answer the
Question
(d) Both Statement-1 and Statement-2 are not sufficient to answer the
Question

5. Consider the following gold articles P, Q, R, S and T with different

weights:
• P weights twice as much as Q
• Q weights four and half times as much as R
• R weights half as much as S
• S weights half as much as T
• T weights less than P but more than R
Article T will be lighter in weight than

(a) P and S (b) P and R (c) P and Q (d) Q and R

For the following 3 questions, read the following information and answer
the questions that follow.

Six students A, B, C, D, E and F appeared in several tests, either C or

F scores the highest. Whenever C scores the highest, then E scores the least.
Whenever F scores the highest, B scores the least. In all the tests they got
different marks; D scores higher than A, but they are close competitors; A
scores higher than B, C scores higher than A.

6. If F stands second in the ranking, then the position of B is?

(a) Third (b) Fourth (c) Fifth (d) Sixth
 Puzzles

7. If B scores the least, then rank of C will be

(a) second (b) third
(c) fourth (d) second or third

8. If E is ranked third, then which one of the following is correct?

(a) E gets more marks than C (b) C gets more marks than E
(c) A is ranked fourth (d) D is ranked fifth

Directions (Q): Read the information given below and answer the six
questions that follow.

A, B, C and D are students. They are studying in four different cities, viz., P,
Q, R and S (not necessarily in that order). They are studying in science college,
Arts college, Commerce college and Engineering college (not necessarily in
that order), which are situated in four different States, viz., Gujarat,
Rajasthan, Assam and Kerala (not necessarily in that order). Further, it is
given that

(i) D is studying in Assam

(ii) Arts college is located in city S which is in Rajasthan

(iii) A is studying in Commerce college

(iv) B is studying in city Q

(v) Science college is located in Kerala

9. A is studying in
(a) Rajasthan (b) Gujarat (c) City Q (d) Kerala

10. Science college is located in?

(a) City Q (b) City S (c) City R (d) City P

11. C is studying in
(a) Science college (b) Rajasthan (c) Gujarat (d) City Q

12. Which one of the following statements is correct?

(a) D is not studying in city S
(b) A is studying in Science college
(c) A is studying in Kerala
(d) Engineering college is located in Gujarat
 Puzzles

13. Which one of the following

statements is correct regarding Engineering college?
(a) C is studying there
(b) B is studying there
(c) It is located in Gujarat
(d) D is studying there

14. Which one of the following statements is correct?

(a) Engineering college is located in Assam
(b) City Q is situated in Assam
(c) C is studying in Kerala
(d) B is studying in Gujarat

15. Half of the villagers of a certain village have their own houses.
One-fifth of the villagers cultivate paddy. One-third of the villagers are
literate. Four-fifth of the villagers are under 25 years of age. Which one
of the following statements is certainly correct?
(a) All the villagers who have their own houses are literate.
(b) Some villagers under 25 years of age are literate
(c) Only half of the villagers who cultivate paddy are literate
(d) No villager under 25 years of age has his own house
Key:
1-c 2-c 3-a 4-d 5-c 6-c 7-d 8-b 9-b 10-a 11-b 12-a 13-d 14-a 15-b