trickster

But the scares were middling to begin with because Øvredal — a game but overeager trickster — telegraphs his set pieces as if he were equipped with a flare gun and detour cones.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 22, 2026

Watching a trickster hypnotize someone in a live performance might impress you.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025

The work in question is a "maqāma" -- an Arabic literary form that often features a wandering "trickster."

From Science Daily ● Nov. 11, 2025

Crudup plays 19 characters in the 80-minute performance, taking on the roles of everyone the titular confidence trickster comes into contact with.

From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2024

“I fail to see how that is at all relevant,” the trickster god muttered, but he didn’t move.

From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia

"Ravens have fascinated people forever," Marzluff said, noting the birds have been considered everything from "creators and tricksters" to "opportunistic pests."

From Barron's ● Mar. 12, 2026

And they told stories about characters like Br’er Rabbit and Anansi, tricksters who provided models for overcoming powerful oppressors.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 15, 2026

But although screening at publishers is helpful, the arms race between screening methods and tricksters means it is unlikely to stem the tide of problematic papers entirely.

From Science Magazine ● May 31, 2024

Ravens: Ravens, notorious tricksters in many Indigenous Nations’ folklore, became more ominous thanks to Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.”

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 20, 2023

The problem with tricksters is that they think everyone is playing the same games.

From "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams" by Daniel Nayeri