Bunuel wrote:
Four married couples- Francisco and Gabrielle, Kyoko and Lee, Olivia and Peter, Raymond and Simone- will dine together at the same circular table. Each person will sit in a different one of the eight chairs evenly spaced around the table. The chairs are numbered from 1 through 8 with successively numbered chairs next to each other and chair 1 next to chair 8. Seating arrangements must meet the following conditions:
No person sits next to her or his spouse.
Simone sits in chair 1 and Raymond sits in chair 4.
Neither Peter nor Olivia sits next to Raymond.
Neither Kyoko nor Lee sits next to Gabrielle.
Which one of the following could be the list of people sitting in chairs 5 through 8, respectively?
(A) Francisco, Olivia, Gabrielle, Peter
(B) Francisco, Gabrielle, Peter, Lee
(C) Olivia, Gabrielle, Peter, Kyoko
(D) Gabrielle, Lee, Olivia, Kyoko
(E) Lee, Olivia, Francisco, Kyoko
Use the options rather than trying to find a solution. Moreover, the wording
could be the list means there are more than one arrangement.
F and G, K and L, O and P, R and S cannot sit together. Discard options that have the pair sitting together.
(B) has F and G together, so discard.
(A) has the seats 5 to 8 as per above restriction, but K and L have to be placed on 2nd and 3rd seat. So, discard.
Next, P and O cannot be next to R, who is on chair 4. So, P and O cannot be on 5.
(C) has O on 5, so discard
Next, K and L cannot be next to G.
(D) has G and L on 5th and 6th seat, so discard
Only E left.