Direction for the following 3 (three) items: Consider the given information and answer the three items that follow.
Six boxes A, B, C, D, E and F have been painted with six different colours viz., violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow and orange and arranged from left to right (not necessarily either kept or painted with the colours in the same order). Each box contains a ball of any one of the following six games: cricket, hockey, tennis, golf, football and volleyball (not necessarily in the same order). The golf ball is in violet box and is not in the box D. The box A which contains tennis ball is orange in colour and is at the extreme right. The hockey ball is neither in box D nor in box E. The box C having cricket ball is painted green. The hockey ball is neither in the box painted blue nor in the box painted yellow. The box C is fifth from right and next to box B. The box B contains volleyball. The box containing the hockey ball is between the boxes containing golf ball and volleyball.
Which of the following statements is/are correct?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) F is painted indigo
Hockey is in F, and F can be neither blue nor yellow; orange, green and violet belong to A, C and E, so F is indigo. B and D take blue and yellow in an order the clues never fix, so only (b) is certain.
- Stated outright: A — tennis, orange; C — cricket, green; B — volleyball.
- Hockey is not in D or E, and A, B, C already hold other balls, so hockey is in F.
- Golf is not in D, so golf is in E and football is left for D.
- Golf is in the violet box, so E is violet.
- F (hockey) is neither blue nor yellow; orange, green and violet are taken, so F is indigo.
- B and D share blue and yellow, and no clue says which is which.
- ✗ (a) D may be blue or yellow — not fixed.
- ✓ (b) F must be indigo.
- ✗ (c) B may be blue or yellow — not fixed.
- ✗ (d) Only (b) is certain.
Remember · In box puzzles, fix what is stated outright, then place the item with the most 'not' clues; note what stays open before answering.
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper II (2016, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·