Mr. Ritchie occasionally blurred details of articulation in rapid arpeggio passages, reminding one that Corelli was the outstanding violinist of his day.

Readers leafed through its pages to survey a hectic and strange world comfortingly leveled and brought closer to home by a predictable layout that occasionally blurred news photographs even with advertisements.

For its sheer rigor, Ms. Skaggs's movement works well with dance neophytes, but it is deceptive: her propensity for speed occasionally blurs sophisticated footwork.

Yet what occasionally blurs the book's moral focus is that Mr. Richler "does" tastelessness and vulgar display so much more damningly, hilariously and with so much more relish than flat-out evil.

The place feels like a fraternity house, with people coming and going, and the lines of who lives where occasionally blurring.

The unusual process occasionally blurred the line between reality and illusion.

Even analysts occasionally blur the line.

The walls and ceiling occasionally blurred, coming in and out of focus.

And even when the focus occasionally blurs in Bartlett Sher's ultimately moving revival, Odets's zesty dialogue is a joy to hear (2:30).

As the case unravels and becomes ever more complicated, so Banks' personal life becomes entangled, occasionally blurring both his and Cabot's vision of the real villain in their midst.