In his low-keyed methodic way, Mr. Ekeus kept up the pressure in a protracted game of cat and mouse.
As Jamie, who leans very close to Claire during all their conversations, Sam Heughan helpfully fills the shirtless-male-redhead slot left empty by "Homeland" and "Dexter," so that the couple's protracted game of Scottish footsie flares with convincing eroticism.
(He finds it apt that the Chinese like to play "wei qi," or "go," a protracted game of encirclement while we play chess, looking for control of the center and total victory).
Rarely has there been a more protracted game of selectorial hokey-cokey, with the starting XV announcement pushed back to the eve of the game pending late checks on Billy Vunipola, Mike Brown, Nathan Hughes and Elliot Daly.
With those close to the governor saying he was "reconsidering" whether to mount a bid, Mr. Christie's unwillingness to address his political future during his speech left some Republicans exasperated and worried that a protracted game of "will-he, won't-he" would be bad for the party's chances of retaking the White House.
Early on, the movie turns into a protracted game of hide-and-seek in which the big bad army (portrayed as a bunch of gun-crazy incompetents mugging ferocity) pursues and captures Chuck and keeps him in a subterranean military base.
From day to day, her changing recollection of what Mr. Bush did or didn't say about Iraq to Mr. Clarke in the Situation Room on 9/12 had been harder to track than Colonel Mustard's perambulations in the billiard room in a protracted game of Clue.
Many officials fear that Putin is simply performing another sleight of hand in a protracted game of cat-and-mouse where Russia has consistently stayed two steps ahead of the west.
To some experts, that suggests that Google could end up winning a protracted waiting game.
It's like watching a protracted chess game, told in messages from consorts and smash cuts from Mary's camp to Elizabeth's castle.
