Patchery

Today's word is another obsolete one, but one that I feel we could drag out of obsolescence quite easily - patchery, a noun meaning 'Knavery, roguery; trickery, cheating, deception' (OED). Well, of course, I don't move in circles, where patchery is rife and particularly today, when we gathered for the last day of Giles Duley's fabulous masterclass. I had to resort, therefore, to a touch of patchery myself, involving smoke and mirrors.