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• s  relating to the peripheral and unimportant aspects of life
  a hole-and-corner life in some obscure community"- H.G.Wells
• s  conducted with or marked by hidden aims or methods
  hole-and-corner intrigue

• I cannot believe that any of these matters has escaped his notice, for it has been no hole-and-corner business .
• You can say or print almost anything so long as you are willing to do it in a hole-and-corner way.
• Said one American: "Has an international document ever been ratified in such a hole-and-corner fashion?" Less than an hour later, Japan's tough-minded Premier Nobusuke Kishi .

• hole-in-corner
• clandestine
• cloak-and-dagger
• hugger-mugger
• hush-hush
• secret
• surreptitious
• undercover
• underground

Quotes

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• Edward Leigh in guardian.co.uk
  Edward Leigh, chairman of the Commons public accounts committee, said: "Taxpayers should be grateful to the anonymous whistleblower who first alerted the NAO to the Department of Health's hole-and-corner deal with Dr Foster." "The department...