no earthly X
though
the German authorities had no earthly means of knowing this 11
not a shred of
there
was not a shred of proof 14
set-up
a
classic set-up, straight out of bomb school 30
good nature
the
fatal good nature of the Labour Attaché‚ 18
a blind alley
both
bomb and suitcase were a blind alley 30
bikini bomb
we
are calling this the bikini bomb 31
window table
and
insisted on preparing a big window table that could have seated six 34
night-and-day
a
night-and-day affair 17
voting-fodder
some
voting-fodder from the Bundestag 28
the living end
We
are the living end. 28
either side of it
and
buy a couple of things either side of it to confuse the assistant's memory 31
unperson
by such
unpersons as guestworkers 30
Mr. somebody
by
my colleague Mr. somebody from the state analytical laboratories 30
postmark X
note
of good wishes, postmark Jerusalem 38
for the life of X
but
he could not remember for the life of him whether the dress ... 22 (# for his
life ?)
of all people
who
were the Germans, of all people, they begged him to consider, that they should
expose such a man as an adulterer? 26
at dead of night
had
persuaded her, at dead of night, to postpone her departure 26
in the small hours
in
the small hours while others slept 27
at arm's length
he
was running them at arm's length 38
to unchain
he
unchained the door to her 19
to bring on
a
hangover brought on by marital stress 12
to wear off
when
the shock wears off 13
to set off
intransitive :
seen her ... set off with cheerful waves to the Labour Attaché‚ 18
transitive
: a silk headscarf which set off her gold hair 19
to drop by
said
she would drop by another time 19
to come by
she
would come by again when Elke was back from holiday 20
to collect up
softly
collecting up the dead 24
to fall on hard times
the
forlorn air of an Alexandrian villa fallen on hard times 12
to remonstrate with
remonstrating
with an unrepentant daughter for returning home late the night before 12
to live off
Lived
off the land. 37
to hang up on
he
had hung up on them 13
to go down well with
he
went down well with the Israelis 16
to put down to
It
was slightly heavier than he had expected, but he put this down to the
gramophone records 20
to pass on to
passing
on to his team the pressures that were upon himself 25
to flesh out with
the
Germans were fleshed out with officials from the Ministry of the Interior 28
to crash in upon/on
once
again crashing in upon his companion's thoughts 35
to go dead
when
the line went dead 13
to escape scot-free
the
children had escaped scot-free 13
to waste time / to waste one's time
the
general injunction upon him never to waste his time 19
to take time / to take the time to
Investigations
... would take time 21
to mark time
Marking
time but excited somehow 23
to hold the floor / to take the rostrum
he
had expected to be holding the floor himself 28
whenever
he took the rostrum 29
to put it
Our
dear Führer himself would have put it no better 29
to strike a bargain
as
if the bargain had been struck 36
to raise hell
a
bunch of Palestinians raised a certain amount of hell in my country 36
to kiss somebody goodbye (# kiss sth
goodbye)
seen
her ... kiss little Gabriel goodbye 18
to cost somebody blood
with
a courtesy that Alexis knew cost them blood 23
to take a liking to
doves
that had taken a liking to the mauve wistaria 12
to scale one's bag down to
the
press had been forced to scale their bag down to five dead 14
to give (the) credit to
they
gave the credit to Black September 14
to lay claim to
a
group which laid convincing claim to the previous explosions also 14
to bear responsibility for
neither
was old enough to bear the remotest responsibility for what Germans sadly refer
to as their unconquered past 16
to keep watch on
no
special security watch had been kept on the target house 17
anybody
passing the house or keeping watch 18
to have no patience with
my
wife has no patience with fine cooking 20
to ring a bell with
the
photographs ... rang no bells with the Labour Attaché‚ 22
to have an eye for
he
had an uncommonly good eye for seeing such things far ahead of his colleagues
23
to lay money on
he
would have laid good money on the kind of answers that Schulmann might have
coaxed from her 27
to crane one's neck at
The
German contingent craned their necks at everything 28
to make a fuss of
the
Italian padrone made a predictable fuss of Alexis 34
to have a soft spot for
One
had a soft spot for a liitle girl in Amman 37
to give rein to
but
one (i.e. a job - A.M.) that gave less rein to his capricious individuality 38
to go through a trough
the
relations between Israel and the Federal Republic were going through a trough
16
to clutch at straws
when
he was clutching at straws 19
to sit shiva
and
they could sit shiva together in Jerusalem 15
to stand guard
a
green police caravan stood guard outside it 17
sooner or later
Sooner or later,
they say in the trade, a man will sign his name 11
in the trade
Sooner or later,
they say in the trade, a man will sign his name 11
all right
they
remembered the tinkling of falling glass all right 14
in defiance of
in
stark defiance of the opinions of his niece 15
under orders to
Alexis
was under pressing orders to deny the Israelis nothing 17
over-large
he
himself was shy and over-large 19
hard to take
at
a time when Israel was being a little hard to take. Politically. 17
kind on
he
was being kinder on the clothes and records 21
the mantle fits X
His
father had been some kind of resister against the Hitler thing, and the mantle,
in these altered times, fitted the erratic son uncomfortably 16
it BE common ground that S
it
was common ground that no special security watch had been kept on the target
house 17
the signs are written all over X
the
signs were written all over the file 26
let the grass grow over X
Let
the grass grow over it first. 27
let alone
at
any German airport, let alone Cologne 22