お勉強とお遊び are the Names of the Game in Life!?

'Sorry I'm late, but my morning appointment ran over and the traffic on Worth Avenue is a harbinger of the approaching season.'

my opening salvo but noticing the slight widening of his lips beneath his mustache I knew I had passed muster .

An expedient for protecting one's reputation or for soothing one's conscience.

pass muster

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company . All rights reserved.