Tactic exercises that appear not to be tactics

Tactics aren't "tricks", but a bit more precisely a short sequence of moves that leads to a forced concrete gain, which can range from checkmate to a clear positional advantage. 

By "short", I mean typically no more than a certain number of moves, perhaps 8 or some arbitrary number. This number really depends on the strength of the player - an engine that can force a win of a pawn in 15 moves has that "tactic", I would say.

By "forced", I mean that the opponent cannot prevent you from gaining less than this advantage. 

Even if you play a bunch of very quiet moves that threaten to checkmate, but your opponent can't stop those moves, it is indeed a forced checkmate, and would qualify as a tactic. 

Yes.  I recall at least one TT tactic that involved exchanging into a winning endgame.  No forks, no pins, no intermezzos, just a series captures that took the most amount of pieces off the board.  There were others, but that one stuck out for its banality.

I stopped using TT shortly thereafter.  Though my tactic rating steadily increased, I never felt like I was actually improving my vision or my ability to spot such moves in my own games.  It's been over a year since I last used it, and I don't miss it in the slightest.

Tactics are not "tricks"

Tactics are a line of forced moves that gives a side an advantage, anything from mate to a postional advantage.  

Thanks, guys. Though IMBacon closed his/her account, I'd still like to make a comment that he/she practically copied what Cherub_Enjel said. I hope he/she doesn't do that with academic papers.