Puzzles for IBPS Clerk

Puzzles are the biggest block of questions in bank clerk reasoning, usually in sets of about five questions on one arrangement. They look long because the clues are long. But every puzzle at clerk level is built the same way: a few clues that fix positions, a few that link people to each other, and one or two negative clues that exist only to kill a wrong case.

Once you see that structure, a puzzle stops being a wall of text. It becomes a short routine you run the same way every time. This guide teaches that routine and then runs it on two full sets. Each puzzle here has been checked to have exactly one solution.

The common types

In the mains, most of these get a second variable (a colour, a city, a subject), so each slot holds two things.

The case-building method

1. Draw the grid before reading clue 2. Floors 1 to 6 bottom to top, or the days in order.
2. Sort the clues. Definite clues fix something ("L is fourth from the bottom"). Relative clues link two things ("M is immediately below the red box"). Negative clues forbid ("M is not blue").
3. Place the definite clues first.
4. Branch on the first relative clue that has two options. Draw both cases side by side. Never hold a case in your head.
5. Run the remaining clues on each case. A case dies when a clue cannot be satisfied. Negative clues are usually the killers.
6. Fill the last gaps and check the final grid against every clue.

Worked set 1: a floor puzzle

Five people, P, Q, R, S and T, live on the five floors of a building, one on each floor. Floor 1 is the bottom and floor 5 the top.

• S lives on an odd-numbered floor, above Q.
• Only one person lives between S and T.
• P lives immediately above R.
• T does not live on floor 5.
• R lives on an even-numbered floor.

Solving:

1. S is on an odd floor and above Q, so S is not on floor 1. S is on floor 3 or 5. Branch.
2. Case 1: S on floor 5. One person between S and T puts T on floor 3. P, Q and R take floors 1, 2 and 4. P immediately above R needs two adjacent free floors, so R is on 1 and P on 2. But R must be on an even floor. Case 1 fails.
3. Case 2: S on floor 3. T is on floor 1 or 5, and T is not on 5, so T is on floor 1. Q is below S, and floor 1 is taken, so Q is on floor 2. P and R take floors 4 and 5 with P immediately above R: R on 4, P on 5. R is on an even floor. Every clue holds.

Questions:

1. Who lives on the top floor? P.
2. Who lives immediately below S? Q.
3. How many people live between T and R? Two (Q and S).
4. On which floor does Q live? Floor 2.

Worked set 2: a box puzzle with colours

Six boxes, J, K, L, M, N and O, are stacked one above another. Position 1 is the bottom and position 6 the top. Each box is a different colour: red, blue, green, yellow, white or black.

• Box L is fourth from the bottom.
• Only one box is kept between L and the red box.
• Box M is kept immediately below the red box.
• The blue box is at the bottom.
• M is not blue.
• Box J is kept somewhere above L.
• Box N is kept immediately above the green box.
• O is not at the bottom.
• The white box is kept immediately above the black box.
• L is not white.

Solving:

1. L is at 4 and blue is at 1. These are the definite clues.
2. One box between L and red, so red is at 2 or 6. Branch.
3. Case 1: red at 2. Then M is at 1, the bottom, which is blue. But M is not blue. Case 1 fails.
4. Case 2: red at 6. Then M is at 5.
5. J is above L. Above 4, only position 6 is free, so J is at 6 and J is red.
6. K, N and O share positions 1, 2 and 3. N is immediately above green. N cannot be at 1 (nothing below it). N at 2 would make position 1 green, but 1 is blue. So N is at 3 and green is at 2.
7. O is not at the bottom, so O is at 2 (green) and K is at 1 (blue).
8. Yellow, white and black are left for positions 3, 4 and 5. White is immediately above black: either black 3 and white 4, or black 4 and white 5. L (at 4) is not white, so black is at 4 and white at 5. Yellow goes to 3.

Questions:

1. Which box is at the top? J.
2. What colour is box K? Blue.
3. How many boxes are between the green box and M? Two (N and L).
4. Which box is immediately below the white box? L.
5. What colour is box N? Yellow.

Notice how the two negative clues ("M is not blue" and "L is not white") did the real work. Each one killed a case. When you read a negative clue, ask straight away which case it could kill.

Speed tips

• Write clues in shorthand: "M ↓ red" for "M immediately below red", "L ✗ white" for a negative.
• Mark negatives in the grid as soon as you read them, so you do not forget them later.
• Solve the whole puzzle once, then answer all the questions from the final table.
• If a puzzle stays open after about four minutes with two or more cases alive, move on and come back.

Common mistakes

• Reading "only one box between" as "one box above".
• Forgetting whether position 1 is the top or the bottom. Write it on the grid.
• Dropping a case too early because it "looks wrong" rather than because a clue kills it.
• Answering the questions while the grid still has an open case.

Practice set

Seven people, A, B, C, D, E, F and G, each have a meeting on a different day of one week, from Monday to Sunday.

• F's meeting is on Thursday.
• Only two people have meetings between F's and C's.
• A's meeting is on the day immediately before F's.
• Only one person has a meeting between G's and A's.
• D's meeting is on some day before A's.
• C's meeting is on some day before D's.
• E's meeting is on some day after B's.

Questions:

1. Who has the meeting on Friday?
2. How many people have meetings between C's and G's?
3. Whose meeting is on the day immediately after B's?
4. On which day is D's meeting?
5. Whose meeting is on the day immediately before A's?

Solution: F is on Thursday, so A is on Wednesday. C is three days from Thursday: Monday or Sunday. G is two days from Wednesday: Monday or Friday. D is before Wednesday, so Monday or Tuesday. C is before D, so C cannot be on Sunday. C is on Monday and D on Tuesday. Monday is taken, so G is on Friday. B and E take Saturday and Sunday, with E after B: B on Saturday, E on Sunday.

Answers:

1. G.
2. Three (D, A and F).
3. E.
4. Tuesday.
5. D.

What to do next

• Solve two puzzles a day for the next two weeks, one floor or box, one scheduling.
• For each, write down which clue killed each dead case. This builds the instinct for where to branch.
• Move on to seating arrangement, then build speed with floor puzzles and puzzle speed.