Wagyu

Are you familiar with Peter Gordon's The Week Crossword? It's a weekly puzzle designed for news junkies. Many of the puzzle answers are items that were in the news just a few days ago. This week's puzzle, for example, has WHITNEY HOUSTON, MALACHY (Pekingese who won the 2012 Westminster Kennel Club dog show), ONCE UPON A SECRET, which was clued: 2012 Mimi Alford book subtitled My Affair With President John F Kennedy and Its Aftermath, STEPHEN BREYER (Supreme Court justice who was recently robbed at machete-point), and BRINGING UP BEBE (2012 Pamela Druckerman book subtitled One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting).

The clue in the puzzle that baffled me hasn't actually been in the news recently, as far as I know: Expensive beef. The answer: WAGYU. I don't think people in small towns of northern Minnesota have much exposure to it. I've never heard of it. Maybe I need to start watching food shows on television... 

If there's anyone out there as ignorant as me, wagyu  refers to several breeds of cattle genetically predisposed to intense marbling. The meat from wagyu cattle is known worldwide for its marbling characteristics, increased eating quality through a naturally enhanced flavor, tenderness and juiciness, and a high market value. In several areas of Japan, beef is shipped with area names. Some examples are Kobe, Mishima, Matsusaka, Ōmi, and Sanda beef. Highly prized for their rich flavor, these cattle produce arguably the finest beef in the world.

In the following video Stephen Alexander gives us an introduction to Cumbraes Pure Breed Wagyu:

Death in a Bathtub

The Death of Marat, by Jacques-Louis David 1793

The crossing that stumped me today was in the NE corner of Peter Gordon's The Week puzzle. The across clue was: French Revolution figure who was killed in a bathtub. I had M _ R A T. The down clue was: East of Eden twin. I had _ R O N. I assumed either an A or an E would work. I was leaning toward E. 95% of the time ARON is clued as Elvis' middle name.

When I dug a little deeper I discovered I was mistaken - I should've gone with A. This Aron turns out to be Aron Trask, the goodhearted Abel character from Steinbeck's East of Eden.         

Regarding Marat, Wikipedia tells us:

 Jean-Paul Marat (24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793), born in the Principality of Neuchâtel, was a physician, political theorist, and scientist best known for his career in France as a radical journalist and politician during the French Revolution. His journalism was renowned for its fiery character and uncompromising stance toward "enemies of the revolution" and basic reforms for the poorest members of society. Marat was one of the more extreme voices of the French Revolution, and he became a vigorous defender of the sans-culottes; he broadcast his views through impassioned public speaking, essay writing, and newspaper journalism, which carried his message throughout France. Marat's radical denunciations of counter-revolutionaries supported much of the violence that occurred during the wartime phases of the French Revolution. His constant persecution of "enemies of the people," consistent condemnatory message, and uncanny prophetic powers brought him the trust of the populace and made him their unofficial link to the radical Jacobin group that came to power in June 1793. He was murdered in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday.

 ... and, regarding the bathtub:

After Marat's death, his wife may have sold his bathtub to her journalist neighbour, as it was included in an inventory of his possessions after his death. The royalist de Saint-Hilaire bought the tub, taking it to Sarzeau, Morbihan in Brittany. His daughter, Capriole de Saint-Hilaire inherited it when he died in 1805 and she passed it on to the Sarzeau curé when she died in 1862.
A journalist for Le Figaro tracked down the tub in 1885. The curé then discovered that selling the tub could earn money for the parish, yet the Musée Carnavalet turned it down due to its lack of provenance as well as the high price. The curé approached Madame Tussaud's waxworks, who agreed to purchase Marat's bathtub for 100,000 francs, but the curé's acceptance was lost in the mail. After rejecting other offers, including one from Phineas Barnum, the curé sold the tub for 5,000 francs to the Musée Grévin, where it remains today. The tub was in the shape of an old-fashioned high-buttoned shoe and had a copper lining.