Question

The Roman senator Meritorius, his brother, his son, and his daughter have varying oratory skill levels. They are seated in rows and columns as shown in the figure with exactly one person sitting in each box. It is known that
(i) Meritorius' daughter and his brother are seated in the same column.
(ii) His son is seated diagonally across from the sibling of the worst orator.
(iii) The best and worst orators are seated in the same row.
Who is the best orator?

	Column 1	Column 2
Row 1
Row 2

• A. Meritorius
• B. Meritorius' brother
• C. Meritorius' son
• D. Meritorius' daughter

Hint:

Split the four people into two columns using clue (i), then use the diagonal rule to see who shares a row with the worst orator.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Label the four seats 1 = Row1-Col1, 2 = Row1-Col2, 3 = Row2-Col1, 4 = Row2-Col2, so the diagonal pairs are (1,4) and (2,3). Place the four people, M, his brother Br, his son S, and his daughter D, into these seats using the three clues directly, instead of reasoning about columns in the abstract.

1. Apply clue (i): D and Br share a column. The columns are seats $\{1,3\}$ and $\{2,4\}$. Take $D, Br \in \{1,3\}$, which forces $M, S \in \{2,4\}$ (the same argument works if the columns are swapped, by mirroring the grid left to right).
2. Apply clue (ii) with S in seat 2: S's diagonal partner is seat 3. Seat 3 belongs to $\{D,Br\}$, so seat 3 is whichever of D or Br is the sibling of the worst orator. Try seat 3 = Br: then the worst orator is M (Br's sibling), and the remaining seats give seat 1 = D, seat 4 = M.
3. Apply clue (iii) to this seating: Row 2 contains seat 3 (Br) and seat 4 (M). Since M, the worst orator, is in Row 2, the best orator is also in Row 2, and the only other occupant of Row 2 is Br. So Br is the best orator.
4. Check the alternative branch, seat 3 = D instead: then the worst orator is S (D's sibling), seat 1 = Br, seat 4 = M. Row 1 has seat 1 (Br) and seat 2 (S). S, the worst orator, sits in Row 1, so by clue (iii) the best orator is also in Row 1, and the only other occupant is Br again.
5. Check S in seat 4 instead of seat 2: by the same logic with rows swapped, the diagonal partner sits in seat 1, and either assignment again leaves Br as the sole other occupant of whichever row holds the worst orator.

Every branch of the case check gives the same person sharing the worst orator's row, and that person is never M, S, or D. So the best orator is confirmed as Meritorius' brother in every valid seating, which is why the puzzle has one unique answer despite two possible identities for the worst orator.

Let's summarize:

• Clue (i) fixes D and Br to one column and M, S to the other.
• Clue (ii) forces the diagonal partner of S to be either D or Br, giving two branches for who the worst orator is.
• Clue (iii) then always leaves Br sharing a row with the worst orator, so Br is always the best orator.

So the best orator is Meritorius' brother.