31.   In Boston, where he learned word processing, a skill that has kept him solvent in lean times, something inside snapped.

32.   In lean times, backers say, the government would serve as a backstop to ensure that future benefits are at least as high as current benefits.

33.   In lean times, an overly lavish report is a no-no.

34.   In lean times, we must run a surplus.

35.   It was hard to imagine the lean times that lay ahead, in those days when a continent was screaming his name.

36.   Lean times have arrived for the Knickerbockers, a basketball team by night and Red Cross shelter by morning.

37.   Krause has stuck by his man in these extra lean times.

38.   Long regarded as luxury perks for top executives, corporate aircraft customarily are among the first expenses jettisoned in lean economic times.

39.   Normally, producers hope to build a war chest of money in the run-up to and through the holidays to carry them through this lean time.

40.   Now, advocates for these causes fear that a huge tab for the stadium could mean lean times elsewhere.