nonlinearly (7/18/2015)
It was the statistics. I issue the command EXEC sp_updatestats 'RESAMPLE'.
Not necessarily. Updating the stats would have invalidated all plans, so if it was a bad plan, the stats update would have 'fixed' it (temporarily probably)
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability