Hi Binks--
I was a little disappointed at that one too. Your explanation is one possibility--the other being that in that context it is just a noun that is always plural and doesn't have a singular. You can't read the ban or the bann--only the banns.

manks

Today's puzzle made me regret that lamrim--the stages of the path in Tibetan Buddhism--is not allowed.

I have also tried torma  on other occasions without success:
here is a little piece on tormas:

Food
Tormas (Skt.: bali) are offering cakes. They symbolize the food offering.  Originally made of dough (in Tibet, roasted barley flour is used,) and also sculpted from butter, they have evolved into elaborately decorated objects.  Since making them is time-consuming and uses resources, people have begun to use clay, wood and more recently, synthetic substances. These include resin modeling products, and at least one Asian company produces small, injection-molded plastic tormas.

Each torma -- which at one time (pre-Buddhism, naturally,) may have been a substitute for a living being -- has specific characteristics that depend upon the deity to whom it is offered. However, all tormas have three fundamental elements: foundation, body, and decoration that symbolize respectively the qualities of body, speech, and mind.

The energies of these qualities are represented by two or three small, rather flat, discs applied to the front of the conical body.  Usually they are in the form of flowers; the rims can be pressed to create the scalloped effect of petals. 

Finally, one or more dabs of coloured butter known as gyab gyen are sometimes pressed onto the "back" (Tib. gyab) of the torma.  This action dedicates the offering: 

 . . .  it seals the torma offering so that its essence won't be lost or stolen before you get a chance to offer it.  I've also heard that it's a gesture, as if you were saying, "thus, I offer." ~ ani Yeshe Wangmo

A torma of elaborate design may be decorative, but it is not as important as the action of generosity which it represents.  The colours reflect the nature of the deity to which it is being offered, and can also correspond to traditional yogic principles.

 

Dear T:
I know all too well where you are coming from. How could you possibly understand me so thoroughly? I feel there must be a deep bond between us.
And Binkie, I appreciate the picture of domestic disarray you draw so admirably.  But there is a real issue here for a middle of the pack player such as myself. You may have allowed certain aspects of your lives to fall into disrepair, but you have done it in the pursuit of excellence. I, on the other hand, am doing it in the pursuit of mere mediocrity. How dispiriting. Not a clean pair of socks in the house, and still I'm two short of a rosette. Evidently "Mancklin," an old family name attached to several luckless souls through the generations, all of whom died young and in unfortunate circumstances, carries its karma along with it.
Farewell for now, not yet forever.
Mancklin

Wel B-B-B, if I may be so bold--
I do hope my whingeing little post didn't come across as ungrateful to the creator of the puzzle, which I obviously find totally compelling; moreover, the fact that one can glean  information about other players in these posts is quite delightful. No, if it wasn't so much fun, and getting funner all the time, there would be no conflict.

As for the posting difficulty--I don't know, I guess I didn't try very hard. You have to look quite hard for the "New topic" button. When I finally decided to post I went to the help button and found out how to do it. I mean it's not an orange flashing button with silhouettes of people taking off their clothes or anything like that.
Mancklin

How about regift? And regifted? And regifting?

Is the concept of regifting confined to cheap lower middle class immigrant New Yorkers such as myself?  To tell the absolute truth I usually only regift in the direction of my daughter, or possibly the garbage can; I have however been the recipient of several regiftings including a Coach bag I have not yet used, and which might, after another few months, be regifted onwards.