[oneeyedpigeon]

I think that chicken was a satirical dig along the very same lines. IIRC, it clearly described the pulley and the resulting puzzle - using a pulley on a wire - isn't exactly cryptic.

[robinsonb5]

As opposed to, say, the "monkey" wrench in MI2?

[davidgay]

That one's particularly terrible for non-Americans, as I (a native English speaker) had never heard the term. I forget how we figured that one out...