Eight people — Anand, Babita, Cedric, Dinky, Ela, Fida, Gita and Hemant — are…
2023
Eight people — Anand, Babita, Cedric, Dinky, Ela, Fida, Gita and Hemant — are sitting in three different rows facing south. Each row has three seats, and one seat (out of the nine) is vacant. Study the following information about the eight people:
Anand is sitting between two people and parallel to Cedric.
Dinky is sitting at an end seat of the third row from the south (the northernmost row).
There is one person sitting parallel to both Dinky and Hemant.
Gita is second from both Hemant and Fida.
Cedric, Anand and Gita come in one line from north to south.
Babita is sitting diagonal to Cedric, and Ela is sitting diagonal to Gita.
Which among the following pairs is not sitting together?
- A.
Babita and Anand
- B.
Gita and Hemant
- C.
Fida and Babita
- D.
Anand and Ela
Attempted by 10 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
In a grid-style (multi-row) seating puzzle, several parallel rows of fixed size all face the same direction. Two people are 'parallel' when they share the same seat-column across different rows, and 'diagonal' when they sit in adjacent rows but in seat-columns exactly one apart. 'Sitting together' always means being immediate neighbours within the SAME row. The standard method is to lock the shared column from the strongest clue first, place everyone else row by row, then verify every clue against the finished grid.
Anand sits between two people, so he occupies the middle seat of his row. He is parallel to Cedric, and Cedric, Anand and Gita come in one line from north to south — so all three occupy the middle seat-column, one each in the north row, the middle row and the south row.
Dinky sits at an end seat of the third row from the south, i.e. the northernmost row.
A person parallel to BOTH Dinky and Hemant exists, so Hemant must sit in the very same end column as Dinky — a single row-2 seat can be parallel to only one shared column, not to two different ones.
Gita is second from BOTH Hemant and Fida, so she is the middle seat of her row with Fida and Hemant on either side. Since Hemant occupies the end column shared with Dinky, Fida is fixed on the opposite end — giving the south row as Fida, Gita and Hemant in that order.
Babita sits diagonal to Cedric and Ela sits diagonal to Gita, so both sit one row apart from Cedric's and Gita's rows, in the column next to the middle one — that leaves only the two outer seats of the middle row, which Babita and Ela occupy between them. This completes the grid and leaves exactly one seat vacant, in the north row's remaining end column.
Row (north → south) | Left seat | Middle seat | Right seat |
|---|---|---|---|
Row 3 (north) | Vacant | Cedric | Dinky |
Row 2 (middle) | Babita | Anand | Ela |
Row 1 (south) | Fida | Gita | Hemant |
Anand (middle row, middle seat) sits between Babita and Ela, and shares his column with Cedric — matches.
Dinky occupies the end seat of the north row — matches.
Ela sits in the column shared by Dinky and Hemant, in the middle row — matches 'one person parallel to both'.
Gita sits in the middle seat of the south row, exactly one seat from both Fida and Hemant — matches.
Cedric, Anand and Gita all occupy the middle column across the three rows — matches.
Babita sits diagonal to Cedric, and Ela sits diagonal to Gita — matches.
Swapping Babita and Ela between the two outer seats of the middle row still satisfies every clue above; either way Babita stays in the middle row and Fida stays in the south row, so the pair that is not sitting together is unchanged.
Only Fida (south row) and Babita (middle row) are placed in different rows altogether, so they are never immediate neighbours. Fida and Babita is the pair that is NOT sitting together.