What are you good at?

[BigV]

Yes, our clothes dryer, natural gas variety.

Your hypothesis is (uncharacteristically) wrong, this time.

I am indeed shorting one of the circuits, but not the thermostat circuit. That sensor is on the back of the cabinet where the hot air from this burner assembly enters the drum. If you look closely at the second picture, you can see the blue and white wires in place. They're connected to a different sensor, right at the burner, the flame sensor. I had laboriously troubleshot all the other aspects of the non-working dryer, and this was the only one that was not working. I tested it by bypassing it, as you see in the first photo. Then I shut down the dryer, went and got another flame sensor ($40), installed it and Voila!

pic01 -- 3, 2, 1, Ignition!

pic02 -- "Flame On!"