...thanks. That explains exactly what I was wondering about. (Honorary ++, although it will probably be a few more days before I can cast a vote explicitly.)

I agree with your suggestion that locally disabling "strict" is a better approach than cleverly circumventing it. Exposes the intent of the code more clearly.

That's what I used to do with Lint as well. Better to dumb down the warnings locally than to invent special variables to satisfy its artificial complaints. With your help though, I can see what the author intended here. Thanks.