The doctor has certainly played the game for all it is worth, and one would like to know the reason for such elaborate deception.

It was a rotten place in which to sustain an elaborate deception.

"So your work is based on an elaborate deception."

I was ready to throw up my hands and reveal our elaborate deception.

His name was synonymous with elaborate deception, and not undeservedly so.

This often involves a whole range of elaborate deceptions.

He could not have in- vented such an elaborate deception.

And why do I care about crafting an elaborate deception?

The whole thing had been an elaborate deception.

This almost always involved very elaborate deceptions, usually several at the same time.