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Today's hand is reported in a new book by Australia's Ron Klinger, entitled, Bridge is Fun (Cassell publishing, Master Bridge Series).
The 11-point balanced opening bid by North is
not something you'll see much in American tournaments, and the subsequent 4 bid by
North makes his opening bid look good.
Nevertheless, 4 was a reasonable contract.

On the club ace opening lead, Klinger points out that East should not signal encouragement. It's a useless signal, because South will ruff the next round if West leads another club, and East knows it. South will then draw trumps and have time to knock-out the spade ace and diamond ace, for 10 tricks. Klinger suggests that East signal with the queen of clubs, an impossible card, as suit preference for spades. Then West can switch to the ace of spades and a spade, giving East a ruff. The diamond ace is the setting trick.

West is likely to hold that ace of spades, but if he held the king of diamonds instead, only a diamond shift would defeat the contract (diamond to the ace, diamond back to the king and a third diamond for a ruff). Perhaps then, if East is giving suit-preference at trick one (as many do when the opening leader might be leading a singleton), East should play the 3 of clubs, showing a diamond preference. Now West can shift to a low diamond from the king, or, without the king, shift to a high diamond, such as the 8 in this layout. East will then know whether to return a diamond or a spade at trick three.

Despite all that, West may still get it wrong. Imagine that East has a doubleton spade and singleton ace of diamonds (giving South 2-5-5-1 shape). West shifts to a diamond at trick two and East returns a spade at trick three. Now West must give partner a DIAMOND ruff at trick four, not a spade ruff! How is West to know this? This is why Klinger's idea of the Q at trick one, asking for a spade, is the most practical signal, playing West to hold the ace of his bid suit.

By the way, in Switch in Time carding methods, East would play the 3 of clubs at trick one to discourage clubs and ask for a spade, West's bid suit, which is called the obvious switch suit (see the e-book, A Switch in Time, for more about this).

Have a nice weekend!