Solution: Term of respect in old westerns - NYT Crossword

My eyebrows did raise when this clue solved to KEMOSABE, which has appeared before in the grid but only clued neutrally as “The Lone Ranger, to Tonto.” This leaves the tone of the term as well as its translation open to interpretation (one of Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons was of the Lone Ranger realizing that the moniker Tonto gave him actually meant the kicking end of a horse). Today, the clue refers to Kemosabe specifically as a term of respect. After some googling, I’m honestly not sure. There’s plenty of thoughtful research available to make the argument that the word is not offensive (unlike so many of the terms evocative of Native Americans that we use for sports teams, but I digress). But its true meaning seems less concrete; some reports are that the word means “masked man or spy” and Sherman Alexie said it meant “idiot.” Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto on television, made a joke about it on Johnny Carson.