Solve the puzzle, test what is known
Real questions give four or five clues about one family. In this lesson you put every clue on one map, mark what the clues do not say, and learn when "Cannot be determined" is the honest answer.
Guess first
One sentence, one word that changes everything: "only".
Ritu, a woman, says: "Sonu is the son of my mother's only daughter." How is Sonu related to Ritu?
Show answer
Correct answer: B
Ritu is a woman, so she is one of her mother's daughters. Her mother has only one daughter, so that daughter is Ritu herself. "The son of my mother's only daughter" is Ritu's own son.
Option A: A sister's son would need a second daughter. "Only" rules that out: the only daughter is Ritu.
Option C: Ritu's mother is one floor up and her son one floor down, so Sonu is one floor below Ritu, not two.
Option D: Ritu's gender is given ("a woman"), so the only daughter is fixed: Ritu herself.
Hint: Ritu is a woman. Who is her mother's only daughter?
The word "only" turned a stranger into the speaker. Puzzles are full of such small words; this lesson teaches you to read them and to notice what is missing.
A puzzle is a jigsaw
A family puzzle is a jigsaw: every clue is a piece, and pieces join where they share a person.
Pieces that touch clues with the same person
join them at that person
Edge pieces first clues that give a gender or a floor
place them before the rest
A missing piece a gender, side or marriage no clue gives
leave the gap; never paint it in
The finished picture the whole family map
read every answer from this one map
Two clues that mention Bharti belong on the same map, joined at Bharti. Never draw a separate small map for each clue: the answer usually sits where two clues meet.
See it: five clues, one map
Five clues about one family:
- Anil and Geeta are husband and wife. Write "Anil = Geeta" on the top floor.
- Bharti is their daughter and Chirag is their son. Put both one floor down, side by side: sister and brother.
- Dinesh is Bharti's husband. Write "Bharti = Dinesh": Dinesh joins the family by marriage.
- Esha is the child of Bharti and Dinesh. One floor below them. No word gives Esha's gender: leave it blank.
- Farhan is Chirag's son. One floor below Chirag, male.
flowchart TD A["Anil (male) = Geeta (female)"] --> B["Bharti (female) = Dinesh (male)"] A --> C["Chirag (male)"] B --> E["Esha (gender not given)"] C --> F["Farhan (male)"]
The map in words: Anil and Geeta are married; their children are Bharti and Chirag. Bharti is married to Dinesh, who joined the family by marriage, and their child is Esha. Chirag's son is Farhan. Esha's gender is the one gap.
Try it on paper. Cover the map, read the five clues again and draw it yourself. Then check: did you leave Esha's box without a gender?
Find the rule
Two questions on this map.
In this family, how is Esha related to Farhan?
Show answer
Correct answer: D
From Farhan: his father Chirag, Chirag's sister Bharti, and her child Esha. Esha is Farhan's cousin on his father's side. Whether that cousin is फुफेरा भाई or फुफेरी बहन depends on Esha's gender, and no clue gives it. Every option that names a gender could be wrong, so the answer is "cannot be determined".
Option A: This assumes Esha is a boy. No clue says so.
Option B: This assumes Esha is a girl. No clue says so.
Option C: Farhan reaches Esha through his father Chirag, so the cousin is on the father's side.
Hint: Which piece of the jigsaw is missing for Esha?
In this family, how many members are certainly male?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
The words give four men: Anil (husband), Chirag (son), Dinesh (husband) and Farhan (son). Esha's gender is not given, so Esha is not counted. The question asks who is certainly male, so the count is 4.
Option B: This counts Esha as male, but no word gives Esha's gender.
Option C: This leaves out Dinesh. He joined the family by marriage, but he is still a member and a man.
Option D: The question asks who is certainly male. Four people certainly are, whatever Esha is.
Hint: Count only the people whose gender a word gives.
Name the rule
One map, gaps left empty, "only" read carefully.
- Put every clue on one map. Join clues where they share a person.
- Give a gender only when a word gives it: father, son, sister, wife, a man, a woman.
- Read "only" as a clue about identity. "My mother's only daughter" is the speaker herself when the speaker is a woman, and the speaker's sister when the speaker is a man.
- Answer from the map. If the answer needs a gap that no clue fills, the answer is "cannot be determined". If an option states the relation without that gap ("sister's child"), that option is the answer.
An answer must hold in every family that fits the clues. If Esha could be a boy or a girl, फुफेरा भाई is right in one family and wrong in the other. An option that is right in only some of the families is not certain.
Worked, half-done, solo
Question
Hari is Jaya's father. Kunal is Jaya's brother. Lalita is Kunal's wife. Mohan is the son of Kunal and Lalita. How is Mohan related to Jaya?
Solution
- Put the clues on one map
Hari on top; Jaya and Kunal one floor down, side by side; Lalita beside Kunal (married in); Mohan below Kunal and Lalita.
- Start at Jaya and walk to Mohan
Across to her brother Kunal, then down to his son Mohan.
- Name Mohan as seen from Jaya
A brother's son, one floor down: nephew.
Answer: Mohan is Jaya's nephew, her brother's son (भतीजा).
Watch out: Lalita joined the family by marriage; she is not Jaya's sister. Jaya's own gender is not needed for this answer.
Now finish one that is half done.
Neel, a man, says: "Pari is the daughter of my father's only son." Neel's father has only one son, and Neel is a man and his father's son, so that only son is Neel himself. So Pari is Neel's ...
Show answer
Correct answer: A
The only son of Neel's father is Neel. "The daughter of my father's only son" is Neel's own daughter.
Option B: A brother's daughter would need a second son. "Only" rules that out.
Option C: Pari is the granddaughter of Neel's father, not of Neel. This answers for the wrong person.
Option D: Neel is a man, so the only son is fixed: Neel himself.
Hint: Who is the only son of Neel's father?
And one on your own.
Tara, a woman, says: "Raghav's father is my mother's only son." Raghav is a boy. How is Raghav related to Tara?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Tara is a woman, so her mother's only son is not Tara: he is her brother. Raghav's father is Tara's brother, so Raghav is Tara's brother's son: भतीजा.
Option B: भांजा is a sister's son. Raghav's father is Tara's brother.
Option C: This drops the brother in the middle. A woman cannot be her mother's son.
Option D: Paternal aunt (बुआ) is Tara's relation to Raghav: the reverse question.
Hint: Can a woman be her mother's only son? Then who is?
The traps
- Painting a gap: giving someone a gender, a side or a marriage that no clue gives.
- Missing the speaker: "my mother's only daughter" is the speaker herself when the speaker is a woman.
- Forgetting who married in: a husband or wife who joins the family is still a member, with no parents in the map.
- "Cannot be determined" too early: if an option states the relation without the missing fact, that option is right.
- Many small maps: clues that share a person belong on one map.
Kiran wrote: "In the family above, Esha is Farhan's cousin, his father's sister's son." What went wrong?
Show answer
Correct answer: B
Esha is Farhan's father's sister's child. "Son" adds a gender that the clues never give, so Kiran's answer is not certain.
Option A: The side is right: Farhan reaches Esha through his father.
Option C: The reverse would describe Farhan for Esha. Kiran described Esha, as asked.
Option D: "Son" is not given anywhere. The certain answer is "father's sister's child".
Hint: Which word in Kiran's answer does no clue support?
Mixed check
Vikas is the son of Kavya's mother's brother. Kavya is a girl. How is Kavya related to Vikas?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
Walk from Vikas: his father is Kavya's mother's brother, and that brother's sister is Kavya's mother. So Kavya is Vikas's father's sister's daughter: फुफेरी बहन.
Option B: "Mother's brother's son" (ममेरा भाई) describes Vikas as seen from Kavya: the reverse question.
Option C: This stops one link early: Kavya's mother is Vikas's paternal aunt (बुआ); Kavya is her daughter.
Option D: Kavya and Vikas are on the same floor but have different parents. They are cousins.
Hint: Lesson 2: turn the chain around and start at Vikas.
Sohan is Mira's father. Mira is Tina's mother. Which statement is certain?
Show answer
Correct answer: A
From Tina: her mother Mira, and Mira's father Sohan. The mother's father is the maternal grandfather (नाना). Tina's gender is not given, so "granddaughter" is not certain.
Option B: "Granddaughter" says Tina is a girl; no word gives Tina's gender.
Option C: Tina reaches Sohan through her mother, so he is on the mother's side.
Option D: Mira is Tina's mother, one floor up, not her sister.
Hint: Lesson 1: start at Tina and climb two floors.
Quick reference
Puzzles: what is known
- One map
- join clues at the person they share never one small map per clue
- Gender
- only from words: father, son, sister, wife, a man, a woman names and guesses give none
- "Only"
- "my mother's only daughter" a woman speaking: herself; a man speaking: his sister
- Married in
- a husband or wife who joins the family a member, with no parents on the map
- Cannot be determined
- when the answer needs a missing fact unless an option states the relation without it
Why it works: an answer must be true in every family that fits the clues. Filling a gap with a guess makes an answer that is true in only some of them.
Sign in to keep your progress. Sign in