Which means that the deal may turn out to be too clever by half.

BBC: No magic potion for eurozone banks

And you've really savaged Mitt Romney for changing his mind, and I'm wondering if you don't run some risk of looking kind of too clever by half here.

WHITEHOUSE: Press Briefing by Press Secretary Jay Carney,

But Gordon Brown is too clever by half.

ECONOMIST: Tax

But this might prove too clever by half.

ECONOMIST: Lexington

And for Merck, there is also a point of pride: whether its effort to get a combination of laropiprant and niacin through the Food and Drug Administration was ever a good idea, or was too clever by half.

FORBES: Some Experts Defend Niacin For Heart Disease After Failed Study

He was too clever by half.

FORBES: Iraq's Lesson for Iran

It also avoids too-clever-by-half trigger mechanisms and the opposite pitfall of a laborious legal process.

ECONOMIST: Regulating finance

So far trimming and too-clever-by-half evasions have been found out every time, while radical clarity has paid off.

ECONOMIST: The Cameron government