Eight people — Anaya, Kabir, Lavanya, Manav, Naina, Omkar, Riya and Siddharth — sit in a straight row of eight seats, numbered 1 to 8 from left to right. All of them face north. Each plays a different sport: Cricket, Hockey, Tennis, Badminton, Chess, Football, Kabaddi and Squash.
Conditions
Everyone faces north, so “to the left” always means towards seat 1 and “to the right” towards seat 8.
“Third to the right of X” means three seats to X's right, with two people in between.
“Somewhere to the right” means anywhere to the right, not necessarily next to.
Clues
Manav sits at one of the two ends of the row.
The Chess player sits at one of the two ends of the row, but is not Manav.
The Kabaddi player sits immediately to the right of the Football player, and exactly three people sit between the Tennis player and the Football player.
The Cricket player sits immediately to the right of the Hockey player, and Anaya sits immediately to the right of the Cricket player.
Exactly two people sit between Naina and Anaya.
The Squash player sits exactly midway between the Hockey player and the Kabaddi player.
Siddharth sits third to the right of the Hockey player.
Lavanya sits immediately to the left of the Badminton player.
Omkar and Riya are not immediate neighbours.
Kabir sits somewhere to the right of Naina, and Kabir does not play Cricket.
Neither Lavanya nor Riya plays Chess.
Question 1 · Multiple choice (+3 / −1)
Who plays Hockey?
Show the solutionSolution
Answer: B. Kabir
The Hockey player is in seat 3, with Cricket in 4 and Anaya in 5.
Kabir sits to the right of Naina (seat 2) and does not play Cricket, so Kabir takes seat 3: Hockey.
Question 2 · Type in the answer (+3 / 0)
If the seats are numbered 1 to 8 from left to right, what is the seat number of the person sitting second to the right of Riya?
Show the solutionSolution
Answer: 6
Riya sits in seat 4.
Two seats to the right is seat 6, where Siddharth sits.
Question 3 · Multiple choice (+3 / −1)
Which sport does the person sitting immediately to the left of Manav play?
Show the solutionSolution
Answer: D. Kabaddi
Manav sits in seat 8 and plays Badminton.
Lavanya sits immediately to the left, in seat 7, and plays Kabaddi.
Question 4 · Multiple choice (+3 / −1)
Who sits exactly midway between Kabir and Lavanya?
Show the solutionSolution
Answer: C. Anaya
Kabir is in seat 3 and Lavanya in seat 7.
The seat midway between them is seat 5: Anaya.
Question 5 · Multiple choice (+3 / −1)
Which of the following is true?
Show the solutionSolution
Answer: B. Riya sits immediately to the right of the Hockey player
A is false: Omkar plays Chess; Naina plays Tennis.
B is true: Kabir, the Hockey player, is in seat 3 and Riya is in seat 4.
C is false: Manav plays Badminton.
D is false: Siddharth sits between Anaya (5) and Lavanya (7).
Full worked solution
Call the Hockey player's seat h. Then the Cricket player is in h+1, Anaya in h+2 and Siddharth in h+3: a block of four seats in a row, so h is between 1 and 5.
Where is the Squash player? Seat h+1 is the Cricket player. Try Siddharth (h+3) as the Squash player: midway between Hockey and Kabaddi puts Kabaddi in h+6 and Football in h+5. Tennis must be four seats from Football, in h+1 or h+9 — the Cricket player's seat or off the row. (The board shows h = 1.)
Squash any further right puts Kabaddi at h+8 or beyond, off the row. Squash just left of Hockey (h−1) puts Kabaddi in h−2 and Football in h−3, so Tennis would be in h+1 (Cricket) or h−7 (off the row); further left needs h of 6 or more. So Anaya (h+2) plays Squash, Kabaddi is in h+4 and Football in h+3: Siddharth plays Football. Now h is at most 4, and Tennis is four seats left of Football (h−1), or in seat 8 if h = 1.
Try h = 1: Hockey 1, Cricket 2, Anaya 3, Siddharth 4, Kabaddi 5, and Tennis must go to seat 8. Both ends are then taken by the Hockey and Tennis players, leaving no end seat for the Chess player.
Try h = 4: Tennis 3, Hockey 4, Cricket 5, Anaya 6, Siddharth 7, Kabaddi 8. Chess must take the free end, seat 1, so Badminton is in seat 2. Lavanya sits just left of the Badminton player, in seat 1 — but Lavanya does not play Chess.
Try h = 2: Tennis 1, Hockey 2, Cricket 3, Anaya 4, Siddharth 5, Kabaddi 6. Chess takes seat 8 and Badminton seat 7. Manav, at an end but not Chess, is in seat 1; Lavanya, just left of Badminton, is in 6. Naina is three seats from Anaya, and seat 1 is taken, so Naina is in seat 7. Kabir, right of Naina, is in 8. That leaves seats 2 and 3 for Omkar and Riya, who would be neighbours.
So h = 3: Tennis 2, Hockey 3, Cricket 4, Anaya 5, Siddharth 6, Kabaddi 7, with Chess and Badminton at the ends. Badminton in seat 1 would leave no seat for Lavanya on its left, so Chess is in seat 1 and Badminton in 8, and Lavanya (Kabaddi) is in 7. Manav, at an end but not Chess, is in seat 8 with Badminton.
Naina is three seats from Anaya (5): seat 2 or 8, and 8 is taken, so Naina is in seat 2 with Tennis. Kabir sits right of Naina in a free seat, 3 or 4, and does not play Cricket (seat 4): Kabir is in seat 3 with Hockey.
Omkar and Riya take seats 1 and 4, which are not neighbours either way round. Riya does not play Chess, so Riya is in seat 4 with Cricket and Omkar in seat 1 with Chess. Everything is placed.