The raid was an unusually pointed way to handle an issue that many states are facing, the refusal by Indian tribes to collect sales taxes on cigarettes and gasoline.

Republicans accused Democrats in unusually pointed language of seeking bad times.

These comments amounted to an unusually pointed reproach of a state supreme court, reflecting the majority's frustration with South Carolina's response to the Simmons decision.

The unusually pointed advertisement was produced for the campaign of Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani but never appeared on television.

In unusually pointed language, he warned that China had a "distrustful view" of the United States and was "aggressively modernizing" its conventional and nuclear forces.

That was a devastating and unwelcome truth, and an unusually pointed reproof from Aunt Kade.

But in unusually pointed language, he all but said he would prefer giving up that cut if Congress did not make up for the cost with spending cuts.

Mr. Miller's proposals - which were similar to proposals he made earlier this spring - drew an unusually pointed riposte from the Bloomberg administration.

The Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador, William J. Burns, and delivered an unusually pointed protest.

Mr. Bush, speaking in London, offered an unusually pointed criticism of Israel, but one Israeli official said the speech was not unexpected.