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Machiavellian anagram of an orchestra section (?)

(I left the number of letters in the word as unspecified so as to increase the level of difficulty.)

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  • $\begingroup$ It's a single word or multiple words? $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Jan 7, 2017 at 19:51
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    $\begingroup$ @wildBillMunson You are correct Sir. Nicely done. $\endgroup$
    – user33336
    Jan 7, 2017 at 20:02
  • $\begingroup$ I've downvoted for two reasons: the definition doesn't properly define the word (we're just supposed to discard "iavellian", then interpret it as an adjective?), and the anagram is indirect (and clued by "anagram"). $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi
    Jan 8, 2017 at 0:37

1 Answer 1

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The solution is

SUPERSONIC

which is an anagram of

PERCUSSION

It is Machiavellian because

Supersonic speeds are measured with MACH numbers.

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    $\begingroup$ The definition is in the cryptic clue. $\endgroup$
    – user33336
    Jan 7, 2017 at 20:05
  • $\begingroup$ Apologies for that. I don't quite get the def. part. $\endgroup$
    – Sid
    Jan 7, 2017 at 20:07
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    $\begingroup$ I don't know. That doesn't work for me. The gimmick here is that Machiavellian (which means scheming, plotting) can be abbreviated to just Mach and that in turn can mean having a Mach number greater than 1 or travelling faster than sound? That's a very sloppy and unsatisfying clue, in my opinion. $\endgroup$
    – M Oehm
    Jan 7, 2017 at 20:14
  • $\begingroup$ Nice anagramming! @user33336 $\endgroup$ Jan 7, 2017 at 20:34
  • $\begingroup$ @wildBillMunson Just curious: did you use a computer program to fiqure out the possible anagrams? $\endgroup$
    – user33336
    Jan 7, 2017 at 20:45

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