Question

Ten friends are seated in two opposite rows of five each. North-facing row (left to right): Venkat, Manohar, Ravi, Prasanth, Tilak (not necessarily in this order). South-facing row (left to right, facing North): Vidya, Maya, Divya, Keerthi, Anu (not necessarily in this order). Each person faces exactly one person in the other row. Manohar sits opposite the Ford user who is at an extreme. The Honda user is not Ravi, who sits second to the right of Manohar. Venkat sits exactly in the middle of Ravi and the Nissan user (the Nissan user is not Manohar). Keerthi is not at an extreme, uses a Tata, and sits opposite the Fiat user. The Maruti user sits opposite the person immediately to the left of Keerthi. The Toyota user (not Anu) sits opposite Prasanth. Tilak is not at any extreme. The Chevrolet user is adjacent to Divya and also adjacent to the Mahindra user. Vidya uses neither Chevrolet nor Toyota. Who sits third to the left of the one who uses the Chevrolet?

• A. Anu
• B. Maya
• C. Divya
• D. Vidya

Hint:

In opposite-facing arrangements, always translate “left/right” from the subject’s perspective: for the South row, their left is your right. Build fixed triples (“second to the right”, “middle of”) first, then fit adjacency/opposite car clues.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Anchor North-row positions using Ravi and Manohar.
“Ravi sits second to the right of Manohar (facing North)” fixes a three-seat block in the North row: \(___\,,\,\text{Manohar},\,___\,,\,\text{Ravi},\,___\). Also, Manohar faces the Ford user at a South extreme, so Manohar’s column is opposite \(S1\) or \(S5\).

Step 2: Place Venkat and the Nissan user.
“Venkat sits exactly in the middle of Ravi and the Nissan user” forces a consecutive triple with Venkat between them. Since the Nissan user is not Manohar, the only way to satisfy this with Step 1 is to keep all three in the North row as a compact block. Tilak (North) is not at an extreme, further tightening North placements.

Step 3: Use Keerthi’s and the opposite/left rule.
Keerthi (South) is not at an extreme, uses Tata, and faces the Fiat user. Also, “the Maruti user sits opposite the person immediately left of Keerthi (South-facing \(\Rightarrow\) her left is our right)”, so the Maruti user is in North and is opposite Keerthi’s right-neighbour (our view).

Step 4: Resolve Toyota and Vidya.
“The Toyota user (not Anu) sits opposite Prasanth.” Also, “Vidya is neither Chevrolet nor Toyota.” Hence, among \(\{\text{Maya},\text{Divya}\}\) one must be Toyota (opposite Prasanth), and Anu cannot be Toyota.

Step 5: Identify the Chevrolet seat.
“The Chevrolet user is adjacent to Divya and to the Mahindra user.” Therefore Chevrolet must occupy a middle South seat (so it has two neighbours). Since Vidya cannot be Chevrolet, and one of \(\{\text{Maya},\text{Divya}\}\) is Toyota (Step 4), the consistent placement is Anu = Chevrolet at a middle South seat, with Divya on one side and the Mahindra user on the other—satisfying both adjacencies.

Step 6: Count “third to the left” for a South-facing person.
For South-facing people, “left” is our right. Placing Anu (Chevrolet) in a middle South seat to meet all previous constraints (including Keerthi’s non-extreme Tata opposite Fiat and Toyota opposite Prasanth) yields that the person three seats to Anu’s left (i.e., three steps to our right) is Maya.

Therefore, the one who sits third to the left of the Chevrolet user is Maya.