Direction : Read the given information carefully and answer the questions…
2021
Direction : Read the given information carefully and answer the questions given below: Sixteen persons i.e. A, B, C, E, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X and Y live in two different flats i.e., Flat 1 and Flat 2 of a four-floor building such that the lowermost floor is numbered as 1 and the floor just above it is 2 and so on till the topmost floor is numbered as 4. Flat 1 is to the west of Flat 2 whereas Flat 1 of floor 2 is immediately above Flat 1 of floor 1 and Flat 2 of floor 2 is immediately above Flat 2 of floor 1. There are eight married couples and each married couple live together on the same floor in the same flat. Persons whose name starts with a vowel are female and live on an even-numbered floor. All the information is not necessarily in the same order. A lives just above P’s spouse’s flat. A’s spouse lives in an odd-numbered flat. O and Q live on the same floor. T lives to the north-east of U and he lives below E. Q does not live in the same flat as E. B, who lives on an even-numbered floor, lives two floors above N. S lives to the south-west of B but she does not live below N. R lives to the north of X. R is not married to A. The spouse of X lives to the east of Y. C is the spouse of neither Y nor X. V and U live in the same flat and both have the same gender. W’s gender is the same as Q’s gender. In which of the following flat and floor does S live?
- A.
Flat 1, floor 3
- B.
Flat 2, floor 3
- C.
Flat 1, floor 4
- D.
Flat 2, floor 2
- E.
Flat 1, floor 1
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Concept
In a floors-and-flats puzzle, never start from the queried person. First lock the cells that are forced by a clue combining a FLOOR-GAP with a DIRECTION (north/south = floor, east/west = flat). Those fixed anchors leave only one legal seat for the person you are asked about. Convention used: north = higher floor, south = lower floor; west = Flat 1, east = Flat 2; a married couple shares one flat on one floor.
Application — pin the anchors, then S
A's partner lives in an odd-numbered flat. Of Flat 1 and Flat 2, only Flat 1 is odd, so A and partner sit in Flat 1.
B is on an even floor and exactly two floors above N. Inside floors 1-4 the only even floor that is two above another is floor 4, so B is on floor 4 and N on floor 2.
S is south-west of B and not below N. South-west forces S onto a lower floor than B and into the west flat (Flat 1), which also puts B in Flat 2. 'Not below N' means S is on floor 2 or higher. So S is in Flat 1, on floor 2 or floor 3.
T is north-east of U and below E. North-east puts T above U with T in Flat 2 and U in Flat 1; 'below E' with E on an even floor (E starts with a vowel) fixes the vertical stack U(floor 2) - T(floor 3) - E(floor 4). So U sits in Flat 1, floor 2.
Flat 1 of floor 2 is now taken by U and U's partner. That removes S's lower option, so of S's two candidate seats (Flat 1 floor 2 or Flat 1 floor 3) only Flat 1, floor 3 survives.
Cross-check
The anchors B = Flat 2 / floor 4, T = Flat 2 / floor 3 and U = Flat 1 / floor 2 hold in every consistent filling of the grid. With Flat 1 of floor 2 occupied by U's couple, the only Flat-1 seat that is below floor 4, at or above floor 2, and still empty is floor 3 - so S is fixed at Flat 1, floor 3.