Direction for the following 3 (three) items: Consider the given information and answer the three items that follow.
When three friends A, B and C met, it was found that each of them wore an outer garment of a different colour. In random order, the garments are: jacket, sweater and tie; and the colours are: blue, white and black. Their surnames in random order are: Ribeiro, Kumar and Singh.
Further, we know that:
1. neither B nor Ribeiro wore a white sweater
2. C wore a tie
3. Singh's garment was not white
4. Kumar does not wear a jacket
5. Ribeiro does not like to wear the black colour
6. Each of the friends wore only one outer garment of only one colour
What is C's surname?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (a) Ribeiro
Only A can have worn the white sweater (B is excluded and C wore the tie), so A is Kumar. 'Neither B nor Ribeiro' shows B is not Ribeiro, so B is Singh and C is Ribeiro.
- Clue 1 speaks of a white sweater worn by someone other than B and Ribeiro; it also tells us B is not Ribeiro.
- C wore the tie (clue 2), so the white sweater was A's.
- A is not Ribeiro (clue 1) and not Singh (clue 3), so A is Kumar — who indeed wears no jacket (clue 4).
- B wore the jacket. B is not Ribeiro, so B is Singh and C is Ribeiro.
Remember · 'Neither X nor Y' in a clue means X and Y are different people — a quiet but decisive fact in surname puzzles.
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). ·