101.   Start with a bay stem that is half-hard, neither still growing nor so hard as to snap when broken.

102.   Surviving it is as hard as attaining it, if not harder.

103.   That, as hard as it may be to fathom, is a very fair exchange.

104.   The bargaining, if or when talks get going again, will be as hard as ever.

105.   The Bucks play defense almost as hard as New York.

106.   The calluses on the sides and tips of his fingers were hard as acorns.

107.   The end product was almost as hard as the real thing, but got weaker with every stroke of the bat.

108.   The image is dense, like woven tapestry, its surface as smooth and hard as enamel.

109.   The international sports boycott hit home in sport-crazy South Africa almost as hard as the economic boycott.

110.   The human head is shaped like, and is hard as, a nut.