Cunning

9A
Drink made from dried leaves
Tea
–Daily Boston Globe Crossword Monday, 25 September 2023
–Daily Crossword Club Crossword Monday, April 3, 2023
Thomas Joseph – King Feature Syndicate Crossword – Nov 21 2022

Random information on the term “Cunning”:

Cunning (カンニング) was a Japanese comedy duo (kombi) from Fukuoka Prefecture. Cunning consisted of the pudgy, short-tempered Takanori Takeyama (竹山隆範), and the rail-thin Tadayuki Nakashima (中島忠幸). Known for his bursts of extreme anger, though said to be much more sedated off-camera, Takeyama is the boke of the unit. The tsukkomi, Nakashima, fell ill with leukemia in 2005 and took indefinite leave from work until his death from pneumonia on December 20, 2006, aged 35.

The name of the duo, cunning, while meaning “sly” or “clever” in English, refers to the act of cheating on a test in Japanese.

The two met as classmates in elementary school, and began attending Yoshimoto’s New Star Creation school together in 1992. They both began performing in Fukuoka under Yoshimoto with Takeyama wearing a red tuxedo and Nakashima wearing a blue one. Success didn’t find them easily at first and they fell heavily into debt; the duo even broke up for a year. After reforming, they starting working under Sun Music Production and after managing to gain a little recognition, their occasional TV appearances elicited a positive response; they were even compared to the famous performer Beat Takeshi and the already popular kombi Tunnels (Owarai). They rode with the owarai boom in 2004 until it was revealed that Nakashima had leukemia the following year.

Cunning on Wikipedia

Random information on the term “SLY”:

Sylvester Stewart (born March 15, 1943), better known by his stage name Sly Stone, is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, playing a critical role in the development of funk with his pioneering fusion of soul, rock, psychedelia and gospel in the 1960s and 1970s. AllMusic stated that “James Brown may have invented funk, but Sly Stone perfected it,” and credited him with “creating a series of euphoric yet politically charged records that proved a massive influence on artists of all musical and cultural backgrounds.” Crawdaddy! has called him “the founder of progressive soul”.

Born in Texas and raised in the Bay Area of Northern California, Stone mastered several instruments at an early age and performed gospel music as a child with his siblings (and future bandmates) Freddie and Rose. In the mid-1960s, he worked as both a record producer for Autumn Records and a disc jockey for San Francisco radio station KDIA. In 1966, Stone and his brother Freddie joined their bands together to form Sly and the Family Stone, a racially integrated, mixed-gender act. The group would score hits including “Dance to the Music” (1968), “Everyday People” (1968), “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” (1969), “I Want to Take You Higher” (1969) “Family Affair” (1971) and “If You Want Me to Stay” (1973) and acclaimed albums including Stand! (1969), There’s a Riot Goin’ On (1971) and Fresh (1973).

SLY on Wikipedia