I first became acquainted with Barry R. Clarke's work when he joined me among the Brain Twister setters at The Daily Telegraph in 1989 and we later met when The Daily Telegraph Book of Brain Twisters was being planned.

Barry has brought an interesting and unusual background into the field of problem setting – though problem setters always tend to be a bit unusual. He was bored with school and spent his time inventing games. He left school at 16 and drew cartoon strips – a talent well displayed in this book. He then became an engineering apprentice, eventually gaining a place at Hull University where he read physics, concentrating on original papers and encountering Kant, and did an MSc in quantum mechanics. Finding his PhD program at Swansea uncongenial, he left and went to work as a copy editor, then as a financial software programmer in the City, with sidelines of writing comedy sketches for the BBC (Alas Smith and Jones, Little and Large) and busking in the London Underground. He retains an interest in physics and philosophy, harbouring a desire to solve some of the great puzzles presented by them.

Each problem creator has his own favorite problem types and criteria of excellence. Barry says his primary aim is to entertain, so he likes to create a novel and funny situation that entices the reader to carry on and then get stuck into the problem. The problems in this book clearly illustrate his success in achieving his aim.