Sentence examples for clever exercise from inspiring English sources

At its worst it reads like a clever exercise in character and point of view.

More importantly, Kingsnorth has a sensitivity that lifts what might have been a clever exercise into a literary triumph.

Almodóvar's medley of styles and genres ensured continual interest, as did the presence of Penélope Cruz, though the film remained a clever exercise rather than a drama from the heart.

"Flora Segunda" may initially seem like the product of a fantasy factory, an antic, clever exercise in literary charm — a pleasure that doesn't quite reach your heart — but it shades into something more lasting.

On a clever exercise that overlaid Cole Porter's "What Is This Thing Called Love?" with two songs built on its chord structure, Tadd Dameron's "Hot House" and Lee Konitz's "Subconscious-Lee," the saxophonists engaged in a dual improvisation, reaching a state of deep symbiosis.

But, even if its life was prolonged by illegal executive action, shouldn't the death of the ACA be accomplished by a legislative process instead of a clever exercise of executive power?

In fact, he makes the shapes of buildings along the Grand Canal the starting point for clever exercises in style and formal play.

In the clever exercises in horror that compose Peter Straub's latest work of fiction, "Magic Terror: Seven Tales," the most successful is the brief "Ashputtle," which takes its title from the German version of "Cinderella".

Occasionally, their walls bore graffiti and stencil art, sometimes simple political slogans like "The revolutionary acts, not speaks!" But more often they were adorned with clever exercises in absurdism: a pregnant pope; a double-headed Betty Boop with a Devil tail; a woman's face subtitled "She is in love".

But offering cheaper seats is also a clever marketing exercise.Artistic directors and producers mention the importance of getting young, new audiences into their auditoriums.

At first blush, the notion of concocting a 10-character farce in which all the roles are played by two actors must have seemed inordinately clever, an exercise requiring strategic calculations of the writers even beyond those for standard farce.