The mystery concerning the absence of Playboy magazine from local news stands was solved early yesterday morning when Playboy arrived in Cambridge. The magazine, published in Chicago, was one week late and was allegedly banned in this area.

Playboy, was, however, misshipped, and instead of arriving at Capitol News Co. in Boston, the local distributor, found its way to the offices of another news company, of the same name, but not in the Boston area.

The magazine editors, in their December issue, had already argued the absurdity of banning the publication by pointing out to their readers that "an independent survey conducted by Gould Gleiss, and Benn, Inc. revealed that the average Playboy reader was just the sophisticated man-about-town we'd hoped, twenty-nine years of age, college educated, with professional or executive experience; it also indicated that 25% of the readers are college students."

Sales Normal

At Cahaly's Spa, sales were normal immediately after the magazine's arrival. A sign, posted this morning, sits on the news stand directing all prospective Playboy purchasers to the counter. The proprietor said that he realized that "the boys buy it just for fun . . . but I sell them behind the counter so that there won't be a lot of mobbing around the new stand. They'd rather look at it than buy it."