(n.) An artifice employed to escape consequences or to justify opinions or conduct; a shift; an evasion\.

airtight secrecy alibi apology art artful dodge artifice bag of tricks bamboozlement befooling bickering blind bluff bluffing boggling bosey burial burying calculated deception captiousness catch caviling cheat chicane chicanery chouse circumvention cloak close secrecy closeness clouding color concealedness concealment conning conspiracy contrivance coup cover cover story cover-up covering covering up covertness craft crypticness curve curve-ball cute trick darkening deceit deceiving deception deceptiveness defrauding delusion delusiveness design device dirty deal dirty trick discreetness discretion dishonesty dodge dodging double-dealing dupery enmeshment ensnarement entanglement entrapment equivocation evasion evasiveness excuse expedient facade fakement fallaciousness fallacy falseness fast deal feint fencing fetch ficelle flimflam flimflammery fond illusion fooling fraud front gambit game gimmick gloss googly grift guise hairsplitting hallucination handle hedging hiddenness hiding hocus-pocus hoodwinking hugger-mugger hugger-muggery illusion interment intrigue invisibility joker juggle jugglery kidding knavery lame excuse little game locus standi logic-chopping maneuver mask masking mirage move mystification nit-picking obscuration obscurement occultation ostensible motive outwitting overreaching paltering parrying pass pettifoggery phantasm plot ploy poor excuse pretense pretension pretext prevarication protestation public motive pussyfooting put-off putting away putting on quibbling racket red herring refuge ruse scheme screen screening scurvy trick secrecy secretion secretiveness secretness self-deception semblance sham shift shifting show shuffling sidestepping sleight sleight of hand sleight-of-hand trick smoke screen snow job song and dance spoofery spoofing stalking-horse stratagem strategy swindling tactic tergiversation the dark trichoschistism trick trickery trickiness tricking uncommunicativeness varnish veil victimization vision wile willful misconception wily device wishful thinking