Cunning or Tricky

Cunning or tricky. Daily Mail newspaper quick crossword clue on Saturday, 2 Sep 2017. 7 letters.

Answer: ARTFUL

Cunning or tricky crossword clue in sentence

The entry pretty in The Century Dictionary closes with the following quotable statement: “For the development of pretty from ‘cunning’ or ‘skilled’ to ‘cunning’ or ‘tricky’, and thence to ‘neat, fine, small, and beautiful’, cf. the history of cunning, fine, neat. There is an unconscious sympathy with neat trickery, or a secret admiration of it, that imparts to words denoting it a quality of commendation; the epithets cunning, shrewd, clever, sharp, smart, keen, cute, etc., though they may insinuate dishonesty, are likely to be received with a secret complacency by those to whom they are applied.”