All the stars aligned to make it work

[rainbow402]

Justice Is Finally Served

"I'm not a religious guy," explains Deputy DA Levine, "but this was one of those cases where you feel someone above is watching over you. All the stars aligned to make it work."

Still, Levine wanted more evidence. "I wanted to make sure, 46 years later, before arresting someone who is a successful businessman and a pillar of his community, that we had a rock-solid case that would go to trial and end with a conviction." Investigators tracked down as many witnesses as they could, but several, including the 16-year-old boy who had owned the Ford, had died.

Hi,

1.All the stars aligned to make it work."=?
2. Rock-solid = hard, difficult ?

[buggles]

Originally Posted by rainbow402

Hi,

1.All the stars aligned to make it work."=?
2. Rock-solid = hard, difficult ?

No.1 is a reference to astrology - if all the stars are aligned (just right) then their combined effects will be at their strongest, so (providing astrology works) Deputy DA Levine can thank their contribution to helping him solve the case.

No. 2 doesn't describe the difficulty of the case, it describes its ability to stand up well in court. If you can present a rock-solid case, then you''re pretty certain to get a conviction with the evidence you put before the judge.

Buggles(not a teacher)

[rainbow402]

Thank you again, Buggles.

[rainbow402]

No.1 is a reference to astrology - if all the stars are aligned (just right) then their combined effects will be at their strongest, so (providing astrology works) Deputy DA Levine can thank their contribution to helping him solve the case

Re: Question 1

Oh, I forgot a question. Is such an expression common? If I speak this to a native English speaker, can s/he understand it without any difficulty usually?

Or is it just limited in a certain area, such as U.K. or U.S. etc?

[buggles]

I can't say this is a particularly common expression among native speakers, but you wouldn't find anyone who didn't know exactly what it meant.

[rainbow402]

Buggles, thanks for your answer.