Word: deft
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...three primary U.S. negotiators of the post-cold war era--the other two are George Mitchell, who helped midwife the Northern Irish peace, and Richard Holbrooke, the brash, Balkan knucklebuster and current U.N. Ambassador--Ross is far and away the most modest. While Holbrooke is known for his deft use of sycophancy and insinuation--key tools of diplomacy when used properly--Ross uses a different method. "Dennis makes up for that lack of flattery and manipulation through trust and discretion," says a former confidant...
...offspring, content with their legitimate careers, want to cash out to their father's killers. But a trusted, Sicily-hardened nephew had promised the old don that the banks would always remain in the family. Cunning entanglements with an FBI gangbuster, crooked cops and strong women sauce up this deft and passionate last novel by the Balzac of the Mafia...
WALTER MATTHAU, who died of a heart attack last week at 79, made moviegoers laugh at their own venality--make that humanity. A deft character actor with star quality, he was the ideal mouthpiece for the wisecracks of Neil Simon (The Odd Couple, The Sunshine Boys) and Billy Wilder (The Fortune Cookie). But he didn't need good writing to be funny. Born Walter Matuchanskayasky, he had a posture designed by Rube Goldberg and a lovely snarl of a voice that cut like a foreclosure notice. That got him small, dark roles (he beat up Elvis Presley in King Creole...
...Ewing was a forgotten contributor to a Class of 1999 that put Harvard basketball on the map, winning a record 58 games during its four-year career. Hill, the flashy and deft point guard who played a year of pro ball in the Netherlands, and Beam, the reticent shooter with deadly aim, regularly eclipsed him. Even rookies Drew Gellert and Pat Harvey, whose quick hands and nose for the basket were scintillating to watch, got more press. But I'll remember Ewing's role in the Princeton upset most...
...deft move, the foreign-policy lightweight who failed a pop quiz on global leaders last fall outflanked Gore from the right and the left. The plan plays a new riff on Ronald Reagan's beloved theme of substituting Star Wars for "mutually assured destruction," erecting magical defenses that would eliminate the need for so many dangerous warheads. Bush and his advisers mulled over that concept a year ago in Austin, Texas, then set it aside for the primaries. The topic popped up again during his Sunday phone conferences with Condoleezza Rice and other aides. On May 2, Bush summoned Rice...