How do you define the "skilled play early Dungeons and Dragons is known for?" And how does telegraphing make it "near impossible" to achieve that "skilled play?"
Because to me, all telegraphing does is eliminate the perception of a challenge or consequence as a "gotcha" by the DM and gives the player just enough information to change their fate by paying attentions and making effective decisions. That is as opposed to following standard operating procedures in the face of a lack of information to mitigate risk which doesn't strike me as skillful play.
For this post when I use "us" I am talking about the players.
The primary issue with telegraphing in this sort of play are that the referee is deciding for us what demands attention. The other issue is that it can involve deciding what is at stake before the players act. The referee is not supposed to decide what demands our attention or what the consequences will be before the players act. The referee has no way of knowing what is at stake because he or she does not know what our goals are or what we are trying to get out of any given interaction and we would not give an answer if asked.
In this sort of play the referee either prepares or selects a scenario that is meaningfully complete before play begins. As players we navigate through the game state as if it were something real we could touch, taste, and feel. The referee thoroughly describes the environment and as players we get to navigate through it with whatever aims we choose. We describe our actions and the referee adjudicates solely based on causality. We decide what is important and how we will deal with it, including who our enemies and allies will be.
The skill of play is navigating the fiction based on an imperfect understanding, choosing when and where to search with an awareness that searching might mean running into patrols or give dungeon denizens time to reinforce themselves or to move to other spots.Searching becomes a tactical consideration. It also involves carefully choosing actions which further our goals and not engaging in behavior that is contrary to our goals. All based on an imperfect understanding of the world around us. To understand more we actually have to interact with it in order to find out.
Much of this sort of play depends on what one person on the Story Games forum called the "No Paper After Rock" principle. Basically the GM goes first when they design the scenario. At no point during play are they allowed to make alterations based on what the players do except by following the causality of the fiction. Traps are where traps are. Monsters are where they are. Players navigate this tangible environment and based on the goals they set for themselves interact with.
It is not uncommon in play for players to ask the referee to step outside while they come up with a plan. When I am a referee I am happy to oblige. Not knowing can be exciting.
If the referee is performing their job in a principled way there is no gotcha GMing because they have no agenda. They are simply describing the environment and adjudicating player actions.
I have plenty of experience running games that utilize telegraphing, clear stakes, and a shared understanding of what the player characters are trying to achieve. Games which feature none of these things are fundamentally different in character. Making decisions in the face of imperfect knowledge, having to decide which parts of the fiction are important to our characters, and having to come up with a strategy to achieve our goals when no one at the table including the referee knows what is really at stake can be extremely exciting to me.
That being said this sort of game can get mired down in tactical considerations, planning, and reconnaissance. Consequences can be delayed and things are often anticlimactic. This is war gaming at its finest with all the benefits and hindrances therein.
Telegraphing is a great technique. It forms the foundation of many games that I love to play and run including Fifth Edition, Blades in the Dark, and Apocalypse World. It really helps to focus play, create tension and drama, bring a sense of immediacy to play, and cut down on all that planning and recon. What do you do (right now)? Sometimes I want that. Other times I want to focus on strategic play in the face of imperfect information.