Oh, that's a fairly ambiguous case.

Perhaps Nominull could have added "You may find it obscure, but how can you be so certain it was deliberately so?" But it's not clear that this was needed in the local communication context with Phil, as his reply doesn't seem to imply a misunderstanding of that nature.

On the other hand this site also has a pedagogical mission, so there is something to be said for being careful about the outer audience's understanding.