There were so many phrases, threats, implications-as I said, elliptical references.

Prison censors made that an out-of-bounds subject, except for a few mostly elliptical references.

But in attempts to discredit the prosecution's evidence, defense lawyers have made elliptical references to Mr. Gotti's reorganization of personnel in some unspecified group.

There are the by-now standard docudrama tools, extending from necessarily invented dialogue to elliptical references that skim rather than expose.

Each episode is glued together by period symbols: the low-key guitar music that ushers in the credits, the elliptical references to an undefined collective past when life was freer and, implicitly, more meaningful.

"I looked all over, and the prettiest ones I found were in West Virginia," she says with a coy smile, an elliptical reference to a milestone primary victory in her husband's campaign.

A month earlier, William Safire made an elliptical reference to the Molten case in his New York Times column.

The unknown factor, of course, is whether the Emperor himself feels moved to say something beyond Japan's usually elliptical references to the war.

Your elliptical references are most annoying Lieutenant.

There is only the most elliptical reference to Bobby (Dylan McDermott), who founded the firm and quit last season, or Lindsay (Kelli Williams), his wife and partner.