Definitely not. First Riddle uses the diary as a Pensieve-style flashback machine and gives Harry this info, then Ginny steals the diary back, then we get to the CoS climax.
Oh yes, you’re right. So, yeah, a sufficiently ingenious reader might have noticed the (apparent) throwaway comment about the names, noticed that the letters of “Voldemort” are contained in “Tom Marvolo Riddle”, and worked out the rest before the big reveal fifty pages later. I remain of the opinion that it’s no big surprise if no one did.
Am I misremembering? Isn’t that after the point where he anagrammatizes it for Harry in the CoS?
Definitely not. First Riddle uses the diary as a Pensieve-style flashback machine and gives Harry this info, then Ginny steals the diary back, then we get to the CoS climax.
Oh yes, you’re right. So, yeah, a sufficiently ingenious reader might have noticed the (apparent) throwaway comment about the names, noticed that the letters of “Voldemort” are contained in “Tom Marvolo Riddle”, and worked out the rest before the big reveal fifty pages later. I remain of the opinion that it’s no big surprise if no one did.