The origins of this book are interesting. Two years or more ago a distinguished young scientist was sitting for an examination. One of the questions set him was the well-known "Intelligence Test" about the guard, fireman and engine-driver. Amused by the question, he took it home and showed it to his father, S. K. Ratcliffe. Mr. Ratcliffe showed it to Kingsley Martin, editor of the New Statesman and Nation, and Mr. Martin, thinking it would entertain his readers, published it in that journal. The result was astonishing. A flood of solutions (though
none had been asked for) showed how wide and interested a public there is for inferential problems.
I was then running the New Statesman Crossword, together with some exiguous notes on Bridge. At Kingsley Martin's request, I promptly scrapped the Bridge and substituted Problems. Very shortly they ousted the Crosswords also. Some five or six hundred readers of the New Statesman have actually participated in the "Caliban" competitions during the past two years; and I have reason to beiieve that many thousands more take a friendly interest in the problems.
The present volume is the outcome of a partnership which has been in esse for some time. Quite obviously, the continued production of problems makes considerable demands on one's resources. It was therefore a great relief to me to discover in S. T. Shovelton and Struan Marshall the ideal collaborators, ideal—that is to say—from my point of view, for in addition to composing many of the problems they have done much of the detailed work which the production of this book has necessitated, and have remained unruffled (outwardly at any rate) by blunders and delays of mine, of which the less said the better.
I believe that the result is something new in problem books. There are from twenty to thirty different types of problems here, of which many are quite new; hours, and often days, of work, followed by much anxious discussion, has gone to the creating of many of them. If the
pleasure they afford is proportionate to the labour of their production, we shall certainly be more than satisfied. The problems are arranged—very roughly—in order of difficulty.
I would venture to draw special attention to the Appendix, in the main the work of Mr. Shovelton Mathematicians will find therein much interesting material; for example, Professor Jolliffe's elegant analysis of a theorem which has long been recognised as one of
exceptional difficulty.
Our acknowledgments are due to the New Statesman and Nation and to the Puzzler; and our best thanks to Messrs. E. A. Barclay-Smith, L. C. Clarke, W. E. Cossons, T. W. Dickson, Sidney Lamert, R. Martin, M. H. Newman, J. B. Piele, E. T. O. Slater, F. L. Snow, and K. A. Stott
for problems and for suggestions which have led to "Caliban" problems, and to Professor A. E. Jolliffe, Mr. Julian Huxley, and Mr. S. A. Handford for assistance in connection with a note on the Theory of Numbers in the Appendix, the problem "The Seven Cuckoos," and the problem "Eques enucleat castaneam," respectively. Enquiries or suggestions in regard to the book will be welcomed, and should be sent to me at the address given below