Acrossappears to be "CZAR." As I said last time, really? I mean, it's an awful definition...a tiny handful of all (American, presidential) political appointees are sometimes called "czars," and I do believe that there are quite a few non-governmental jobs that get the nickname "czar" (i.e. supply closet czar) despite not being political appointees. Not to mention those old Russian dudes. I don't know...perhaps I'm seeing right-wing crazy when I'm really just peeved at a poor clue, but I'll certainly be watching out for, oh, I don't know...
50. Political appointee
Death ____ (six letters)
Presidential birthplace (five letters)
Fair and balanced network (three letters)
And of course,
Smartest investment (four letters)
You might want to watch that new series, Rubicon.
ReplyDelete30 Across - Dylan: "You don't need a _____ to know which way the wind blows" (10 letters)
ReplyDelete41 Down - Obama mentor (see 30 Across) (5 letters)
My two cents say you're crazy. A czar *is* a kind of political appointee, it's a bipartisan term (presidents from both sides have enthusiastically pointed to appointments of czars in the past), and it's just a completely uninteresting definition.
ReplyDeleteI'll put it another way -- "out and out fiction"? This is stone, cold fact. A czar is one type of political appointee. Now, in 10 years maybe you can make the case that it's getting a bit dated, but as of now, it's perfectly fine.
May God...bless and keep the Sunday Times crossword puzzle...far away from us!
ReplyDeleteWe have better things to do...like read blogs and listen to old musicals.