Crazy Like A Fox Meaning

(idiomatic) Behaving in a foolish, frivolous, or uncomprehending manner as a ruse for concealing clever deeds or deeper intentions.

Example: 1911, Peter B. Kyne, Captain Scraggs or, The Green-Pea Pirates, ch. 18:
  "If old Scraggsy's crazy he's crazy like a fox. What's rilin' him is the knowledge that he's stung to the heart an' can't admit it without at the same time admittin' he'd cooked up a deal to double-cross us. He's just a-bustin' with the thoughts that's accumulatin' inside him."
1955 March 7, "Art: The Fox of Paris," Time:
  Paris Painter Georges Mathieu appears to be crazy like a fox. . . . [B]y adroitly publicizing himself, Mathieu has recently become the reigning darling of advance-guard art, has no trouble selling (at prices ranging from $600 to $3,400) pictures that take only from a few minutes to a few hours to paint.
2007 May 14, Tom Lowry et al., "Crazy Like A Fox," Businessweek (retrieved 18 July 2011):
  Murdoch's bid to get his hands on The Journal may seem foolishly pricey, but he's got his reasons.
2010 Dec. 18, Jonathan Abrams, "With Two Trades, the Magic Bets on the Present," New York Times (retrieved 18 July 2011):
  â€œHe comes off as crazy, but he's crazy like a fox,” Smith said of Arenas last year. “He knows exactly what he's doing all the time.”