The puzzle
Imran, Manish, Priya, Farhan, Meera sit in a single row, all facing north. Seat 1 is the far-left end and seat 5 is the far-right end. Using the clues below, work out the order from left to right.
- Priya sits immediately to the right of Meera.
- Meera sits somewhere to the right of Imran.
- Meera sits somewhere to the left of Farhan.
- Imran sits immediately to the right of Manish.
Question: What is the seating order from far-left to far-right?
Reveal the answer
Answer: Manish, Imran, Meera, Priya, Farhan (left to right).
Seat 1ManishSeat 2ImranSeat 3MeeraSeat 4PriyaSeat 5Farhan
- Start: 120 possible left-to-right orders of 5 people.
- Clue 1 — "Priya sits immediately to the right of Meera." leaves 24 possibilities.
- Clue 2 — "Meera sits somewhere to the right of Imran." leaves 12 possibilities.
- Clue 3 — "Meera sits somewhere to the left of Farhan." leaves 4 possibilities.
- Clue 4 — "Imran sits immediately to the right of Manish." leaves 1 possibility.
- Exactly one order survives every clue — that is the answer.