Q21

[AmyC906]

can someone walk me through Q21? I used the framing option given in the diagram and poked and prodded all the other correct answers but this one? I am drawing a blank? I can't make J work out in the 3rd spot, but I don't know why.

[WeihuaJ277]

Hi, Amy.
I think this question can be solved by the exclusive method, especially within the limited time and not quite clearly to the whole game.
It can be easily deduced that those five group as Jackson with timmons, Katz with vega, Lu with yoder, Norales with wilson and Odede with zheng. Then you can quickly eliminate choice B and D. (Norales along with wilson could not be the 4th, and yoder, together with L, should not be the second one for it must later than J and Katz.
While it sill leaves A, C and E, it can be that if choice A would be the right one, which means Jackson is at the third slot, leading Katz must be the fourth one. That's equivalent with C. However, this question only has one correct answer, so must be the choice E.

Alternatively, you can put wilson in the 3rd slot and 5th slot respectively and analyze what could be true, but I think it might be a little time-consuming. When wilson is in the 3rd slot, it's obvious that J could not be the 3rd slot.
It would be like this:
J K N __ __
T V W__ __
When wilson is in the 5th slot, you'll find that J and L could not be the third and the fourth respectively, because there's also a slot needed to L after K.
It would be like this:
O J K L N
Z T V Y W
(jut one example under this option)

[Misti Duvall]

Totally fair way to do it, and good call on the pairings, Weihua! This is a tricky question, and it's a little easier if you noted that YL and WN will have to go together, since YN can't be together.

Amy, you're also right that J can't be in spot 3. If you put J in 3 according to the condition here, you get:

ZYTVW
ONJKL

or

YZTVW
NOJKL

Neither of which can work, cause YN can't be together.

I like eliminating as much as possible upfront, and also eliminated A, B, and D by noting the pairings. Then I tested C, which didn't work because both L and W have to be after VK and there's not enough room. Then I picked E.