A and B play hockey and football, B and C play cricket and football, C and E play cricket and volleyball, D and E play tennis, A and C play Volleyball and football, A and D play hockey and football. Who plays hockey, football and tennis ?

Read each statement as applying to both people named. So A and B both play hockey and football. A and D both play hockey and football, which gives D hockey and football. D and E play tennis, so D also plays tennis. D is the only person who plays all three games.

Why the other options fail:

• A: plays hockey and football, but A's other pairing (with C) gives volleyball. No statement gives A tennis.
• B: plays hockey and football with A, but B's other pairing (with C) gives cricket. No statement links B to tennis.
• C: plays volleyball, football and cricket, never hockey, and has no tennis link.

The core concept is linked-pair deduction: each statement fixes what both people play, and you chain these facts to find the one person satisfying all conditions. This is standard Reasoning and CSAT practice, and it trains the careful reading that Mains answers also need.

Trap: reading "A and B play hockey and football" as A playing one game and B the other. That breaks the chain and pushes aspirants towards A or B.