Interior believed that the fees the contractor would have charged were excessive and the savings were uncertain.
The contractors fees are excessive and the savings are unknown said Interior.
Slate 's worthless e-mail provider is displaying its characteristic incompetence (surely not treachery--that would suggest paranoia on my part and determination and skill on theirs--not likely), I received no reader responses to today's quiz, except a few that slipped through enemy lines, and those using a back channel I'd rather not discuss.