Computational Diversions: Slamming Door Comedy

Excerpt

Puzzles are an odd form of literature. For the most part, puzzle-writers—even the best of them—simply aren’t concerned with narrative, plot, character development, or even simple plausibility. Take, for example, the “island of truth-tellers and liars” found in so many logic puzzles: what kind of a place would really and truly be populated with (exclusive) truth-tellers and liars, anyhow? Could such people exist? (Even my best friends aren’t exclusive truth-tellers, and even my least favorite political figures aren’t exclusive liars.) And squeezed together on an island, no less—wouldn’t that lead to civil war? Or the farmer crossing the river—what’s the man doing walking around with both a fox and a goose? Maybe he should just invest in a muzzle for the fox? …