about the bush action ad hoc measure answer around the bush art artful dodge artifice avoid avoidance avoiding reaction back and fill bag of tricks ballot-box stuffing be stuck-up beat about beat around beg the question bicker blench blind blink bluff bob boggle bosey bunco cardsharping carefully ignore catch cavil cheat cheating chicane chicanery choplogic chouse circumvention cold-shoulder conspiracy contrivance countermove coup course of action cozenage craft cringe curve curve-ball cut a corner cut corners cute trick dart deceit deceive deception defense mechanism demarche design device diddle diddling dirty deal dirty trick dishonesty dog it double-talk draw back duck duck duty effort elude elusion elusiveness equivocate equivocation escape evade evade the issue evasion evasive action evasiveness expedient fade fakement fall back fallback fast deal feint fence fetch ficelle fight shy of finesse fishy transaction flam flimflam flinch forbearance forestalling forestallment fraud fraudulence fraudulency fudge gambit game gerrymandering get out of getting around gimmick goldbrick goof off googly graft grift gyp gyp joint hang back hedge hem and haw hocus-pocus hold aloof hum and haw illicit business imposition imposture improvisation intrigue jesuitism jib jink joker juggle jugglery jury-rig jury-rigged expedient keep aloof knavery last expedient last resort last shift little game machination makeshift malinger maneuver means measure mince the truth mince words move move aside mystify neutrality nitpick nonintervention noninvolvement not pull fair obscure palter parry pass pass over pass over lightly pick nits pis aller plan plot ploy prevaricate prevarication prevention pull away pull back pullback pullout pussyfoot put off quail quibble quiddity quillet quip quirk quodlibet racket recoil red herring reel back refraining resort resource retreat ruse scam scamp scheme scurvy trick shake-up sheer off shift shift off shirk short-circuit shrink shrink back shuffle shun shunning shunting off shy shy away shy off sidestep sidestepping sidetracking skim skim over skim the surface skimp skip over skirt skulk slack sleight sleight of hand sleight-of-hand trick slide slide out of slight slip slip out of slubber over slur slur over sneak out of soldier solution split hairs stand aloof start aside start back steer clear of step step aside stopgap stratagem strategy stroke stroke of policy subterfuge swerve swindle