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 the colour of the tie?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) Blue
C, who wore the tie, is Ribeiro. White is A's sweater, and Ribeiro does not wear black, so the tie must be blue.
- 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.
- Ribeiro does not wear black (clue 5), so C's tie is blue and B's jacket is black.
- Result: A Kumar — white sweater; B Singh — black jacket; C Ribeiro — blue tie.
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). ·