Puzzle | Mislabeled Jars (original) (raw)

Last Updated : 10 Apr, 2026

There are three jars labelled A, B, and C, and all are incorrectly labelled.

• Jar A: “Candies”
• Jar B: “Sweets”
• Jar C: “Candies and Sweets” (mixed)

You are allowed to pick only one item at a time from any jar, and candies and sweets can only be identified after picking.

**What is the minimum number of items you need to pick to correctly label all three jars?

Check if you were right - full answer with solution below.

**Solution:

**Step 1: Start with Jar C (labeled “Candies & Sweets”)

• All jars are incorrectly labeled.
• So, Jar C cannot be a mixture.
• It must contain only Candies or only Sweets.
• Pick one item from Jar C.
• Suppose you get a candy → Jar C = Candies only

**Step 2: Identify Jar B

• Jar B is labeled “Sweets”, but labels are wrong.
• So, Jar B cannot be only sweets.
• It also cannot be candies (because Jar C already has candies).
• Therefore, Jar B must be Candies & Sweets (mixture)

**Step 3: Identify Jar A

• Only option left is Sweets
• So, Jar A = Sweets

**Final Result

• Jar A contains Sweets.
• Jar B contains Candies and Sweets (mixture).
• Jar C contains Candies.