Sunday October 24, 2010 John Lampkin

(Note: LA Times website does not support circled letters feature. Here is the pdf file of today's puzzle.)

Theme: Country Kitchen - a UN Day Tribute puzzle. Each familiar food phrase contains two 3-letter country codes used by the UN.

23A. Lunch box item : BOLOGNA SANDWICH. Bol: Bolivia. And: Andora.

41A. Sautéed fish entrée : PAN FRIED TROUT. Pan: Panama. Rou: Romania.

48A. Cup-shaped breakfast fare : BRAN MUFFIN. Bra: Brazil. Fin: Finland.

77A. Basil-based topper : PESTO SAUCE. Est: Estonia. Sau: Saudi Arabia.

85A. Honey-coated dish : GLAZED CHICKEN. Aze: Azerbaijan. Ken: Kenya.

103A. Tangy confection : PEPPERMINT CANDY. Per: Peru. Can: Canada.

16D. It's milder than yellowfin : ALBACORE TUNA. Alb: Albania. Tun: Tunisia.

58D. Some links : SWEET SAUSAGE. Swe: Sweden. USA, not AUSA, the first A is for the crossing Aze. John probably could not find a better phrase where all the embedded codes are isolated.

54D. Country __: used by the org. in 65-Across, there are 16 circled in this puzzle : CODES.

65A. Oct. 24, every year : UN DAY. Today.

Great central placements of the odd number lettered CODES & UN DAY.

Some of the codes are not familiar to me. Had to check Wikipedia NATO country code. So has trigram replaced digram or both are in use?

I can''t imagine the amount of research John did for this puzzle. We all can pick a few phrases which contains 2 different country codes. But to pick 8 with no repeat and to make the grid work is daunting.

As usual, no cheater square, only one letter Q away from a pangram. Lots of fun & witty clues, many clechos (highlighted in green) as well.

Across:

1. Breakfast-on-the-run choice : BAGEL

6. On the way : SENT. Mails.

10. Competed in a triathlon : SWAM

14. Moves with the music : SWAYS

19. Building on a 1936 centennial stamp : ALAMO. Was unaware of the trivia.

20. Speed : PACE

21. Plane starter? : AERO. As in aeroplane. And the real PILOT (22. Plane starter).

26. Ready to bloom : IN BUD

27. Shout : YELL

28. One-named Irish singer : ENYA. Bono too.

29. Its formula includes a plus or minus : ION. Because it can be both positive and negative?

30. Mattress giant : SERTA. Sealy is 5-letter as well.

32. Archimedes' shout : EUREKA

34. They may be behind pictures : SAFES. Wall safes are often hidden behind pictures.

36. People in trees, perhaps : NIECES. Family trees.

39. So-called autobiographer of "Before You Leap" : KERMIT. Here's the book cover. I thought the author is a real person

43. Dvorák contemporary : GRIEG (Edvard). Norwegian composer. Of "Peer Gynt Suite" fame.

44. Aegean region where an architectural order began : IONIA. Oh, no wonder the name.

46. False-sounding soap components : LYES

47. Tech sch. near Albany : RPI. Hey, Spitzboov!

50. Prying tool : LEVER

52. Glassmaker's oven : LEHR. Pronounced like "leer". New word to me.

53. Holes a gimme : TAPS IN. No yip.

54. Made 7 into 343, say : CUBED. "Made 1 into 1" could be tricky.

55. __-Rooter : ROTO

56. Rm. coolers : ACs

59. One of two in a Frost poem : ROAD. "The Road Not Taken".

60. Ping maker : SONAR. Dennis said "when a ship or submarine sends out a sonar signal, it's a PING. I was lost. Could only picture Ping golf clubs.

61. Bolt down : SECURE. Crossing EAT (62D. Bolt down). Great clechos.

63. Herder's equine : COWPONY. Another new word for me.

66. Waxy-flowered plant : BEGONIA

67. Louisiana language : CREOLE

68. Bygone news medium : CRIER

69. Lewd look : LEER

70. Do one's part : ACT

71. Take-out order? : DELE. Editing "take-out".

72. Crabber and cutter : BOATS. Dictionary says crabber is a boat used in catching crabs.

73. Court clown : JESTER. And 83. __ clown : CLASS.

75. Partner of starts : FITS. Fits and starts.

76. Heavy hammers : MAULS

81. Gp. from which Cuba was suspended from 1962 to 2009 : OAS. Ha ha. I knew this fact.

82. Phone call : RING

84. Cranial recess : SINUS

89. Streetcar name? : DESIRE. "A Streetcar Named Desire".

90. Rocketeer gear : G-SUITS

91. Netlike hair wear : SNOOD. Learned from doing Xword.

92. Tiny sandwich : SLIDER

94. Ill will : SPITE

96. Early riser? : SUN. Lovely clue.

97. Jubilance : GLEE

98. Hip : COOL. And 87. Hip location? : IN SPOT. Where the hip crowd are.

101. Jumped : LEAPT

107. Heavenly body? : ANGEL

108. One with many fans : IDOL

109. Say no to : DENY

110. '60s protest : LIE-IN. Like what John Lennon and Yoko Ono did.

111. Name on a mower : DEERE

112. Puppylike : CUTE. And 113. "Puppy Love" singer : ANKA (Paul).

114. List in the back : INDEX

Down:

1. Labor day output? : BABY. Great clue. Also 4D. Compensation for labor : EMOLUMENT. Another new word for me.

2. Soothing balm : ALOE

3. Shopping mecca : GALLERIA

5. Turtle's basking spot : LOG. Vivid image.

6. Punish, in a way : SPANK

7. Hardly a tough course : EASY A

8. Sweet Sixteen org. : NCAA

9. Pin in the back : TEN. Bowling pin.

10. Prune : SAW OFF

11. "Mad Men" creator Matthew : WEINER. No idea. Any "Mad Men" fans?

12. Episodic story line : ARC

13. Mineralogist with a scale : MOHS. Hardness scale. And 89D. You probably need a scale to tell if it's working : DIET.

14. Apparitions : SPIRITS

15. Concerto in Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons" : WINTER. Needed crossing help.

17. Word said while pointing : YOU

18. Not irr. : STD (Standard)

24. First hair remover to be marketed in cream form : NEET. ENYA prevented me from penning in NAIR.

25. Roman goddess of the hunt : DIANA. Artemis in Greek.

31. Rear-__ : ENDER

33. Tediously detailed process : RIGMAROLE. Mainic likes to use this word.

34. Three-time All-Star pitcher Johnny who threw the first major league pitch to Jackie Robinson : SAIN. Interesting trivia. I knew his name only from the poem "First we'll use Spahn/then we'll use Sain/Then an off day/followed by rain...".

35. Dinnerware : SILVER

37. Deliriously happy : EUPHORIC

38. Recipe instruction : STIR

39. CIA rival, once : KGB. Putin was a KGB.

40. Lose money on "Jeopardy!" : ERR

41. Nabokov novel : PNIN. Also learned from doing Xword.

42. Looked at : EYED

44. "Suppose ..." : IF SAY

45. "The Wizard __" : OF ID. Comic strip "The Wizard of ID". I've learned not to recklessly put in OF OZ.

49. Barely winning : UP ONE.

50. Like some eclipses : LUNAR

51. 24/7 auction site : EBAY

52. Crackers : LOCO. Another great clue.

55. Backslid : REGRESSED

56. Blue Devils' gp. : ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). Blue Devils is Duke's sports team.

57. Liqueurs : CORDIALS. Oh, new meaning of cordial to me.

60. Piques : SNITS

61. Take care of : SEE TO

64. D.C. insiders : POLS

65. River to the Caspian : URAL

66. Defeats : BESTS

68. Hacks : COUGHS. Hack has so many meanings.

69. On sale, say : LESS

72. Judicial seat : BANC. Literally "bench" in French.

73. Author Auel : JEAN

74. Run riot : RAISE CAIN. Not many multi-word today.

75. Verne's traveler : FOGG. Phileas Fogg. "Around the World in Eighty Days". I can never remember his name.

76. Heart : MIDST

77. Appealed : PLED

78. Having a pressing need? : UNIRONED. Nice clue.

79. Contemptible one : CUR

80. Peking add-on : ESE. Pekingese.

82. Do an editor's task, perhaps : RE-TITLE. Rich does re-title some of the Sunday puzzles.

83. Unisex designer cologne : CK ONE. Sparkling fill.

86. It may be under a fly : ZIPPER

88. Link : COUPLE. Both verbs.

92. Move furtively : SLINK

93. Singer of many Weill songs : LENYA

95. "Paradise Lost," e.g. : EPIC. Did you want POEM?

97. Racketeer busters : G-MEN

99. Slobbering comics dog : ODIE

100. Forest cat : LYNX. Hey, dog and cat, consecutively.

101. Little shaver : LAD

102. 67.5 deg. : ENE. This kind of clue often confuses me.

104. Campus URL ending : EDU

105. Old vitamin bottle abbr. : RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowances). Now it's RDI (Recommended Daily Intake).

106. Caesar's 151 : CLI

Answer grid.

C.C.

Saturday October 23, 2010 R. M. (Bob) Peoples

(Note: Tomorrow's puzzle involves circles, which are unsupported by LA Times website. I'll release the pdf & puz files on the blog around 9:00pm tonight.

(Updated @9:05pm. Here is the pdf version of tomorrow's puzzle.)

Theme: None

Total words: 70

Total blocks: 29

This puzzle has two grid-spanning marquee answers, all lively colloquial phrases:

17A. "You've made your point!" : OK, I GET IT ALREADY

60A. Reference to a long-forgotten acquaintance : OLD WHAT'S HIS NAME?

They are intersected by a couple of 9s and 11s:

3D. Swing both ways : SWITCH HIT. Did you think of baseball immediately?

11D. Hardly a Michelin three-star eatery : GREASY SPOON. Guess which city has the most Michelin starred restaurants?

23D. Catnap : CATCH A FEW Z's

35D. Decide to defend someone, say : TAKE A CASE. Didn't come to me easily.

The ladder structure in the middle of the grid gives the puzzle an amazing interconnectedness. Quite challenging to put together, as one bad answer could cause a collapse of the whole puzzle.

Across:

1. Sources of inside info? : CT SCANS. "Info" hints an abbreviated answer.

8. Small hounds : BEAGLES

15. Question at a wine tasting : HOW IS IT? Also 36D. Wine selection concern : AGE & 37D. Wine selection : RED. "Wine" clechos (clue echos).

16. Like some glass display cases : REAR LIT

19. Stroke : PET. Both noun/verb work.

20. Atomic number of nitrogen : SEVEN. I forgot all I learned in the chemistry class.

21. Place for controls : PANEL. Oh, control panel.

22. Starfleet registry prefix : NCC. Drew a blank. From "Star Trek".

24. E-mails : SENDS

26. Hurting : SORE

27. Turn left : HAW. GEE is "Turn right".

29. In a level-headed way : SANELY

31. 1987 Beatty bomb : ISHTAR. The name escaped me again. We had this clue before. JD mentioned the Babylonian Ishtar before. Goddess of love/war/fertility.

34. One who draws exceptionally well? : MEGASTAR. Because megastars have drawing power?

38. Insert casually : STICK IN

40. Surfer's destination : WEB PAGE. Internet surfer.

41. Precisely : ON THE DOT. Wanted ON TARGET.

43. Short-changed : ROOKED

44. Energy problem : ANEMIA. Lack of iron.

46. Preschool group? : ROE. It has not become fish, which travel in school.

47. Beehive, say : COIF

50. Health, in Le Havre : SANTE. ''A votre santé!''

52. "Coming Home" subject : NAM. Have never heard of the movie. Starring Jane Fonda. How ironic! I bet Dennis boycotted it.

54. Wrinkles : LINES

56. Tank swimmer : TETRA

58. One sold at Sotheby's in 1989 for more than $50,000 : CEL. Not surprised. Saw some expensive ones in "Antique Roadshow".

63. Taking by force : SEIZURE

64. Truman secretary of state : ACHESON (Dean). Nope. Complete stranger.

65. He played Captain Davies on "Roots" : ED ASNER. His name consists of all common letters, hence the frequent appearances in Xword.

66. Number one : THE BEST. I like how it ends the grid.

Down:

1. Do some food prep : CHOP

2. Keepsake : TOKEN

4. Smoke, briefly : CIG

5. Grieg's "__ Death" : ASE'S. No idea. Here is a clip. Edvard Grieg. ASE is sometimes clued as "Peer Gynt's mother". Ibsen play.

6. Evenings in the classifieds : NITES

7. Destination in a poetic riddle : ST. IVES. Riddle: "As I was going to St. Ives. / I met a man with seven wives...". Got me.

8. Cherry, so to speak : BRAND NEW. New meaning of "cherry" to me.

9. Fish often smoked : EEL. Not to my taste. I liked pickled fish.

10. Seniors' PAC : AARP

12. Plain in the Southwest : LLANO

13. It might get you down : EIDER. Awesome clue.

14. Pizazz : STYLE

18. When Sunday NFL action starts on the West Coast : TEN AM. Big game this weekend for the Vikings. Against Al's Packers.

25. "Against the Wind" singer : SEGER (Bob). See this clip.

28. Rise, and maybe shine : WAKEN. What exactly does "shine" refer to?

30. Cabinet department since 1913 : LABOR. Nice to know.

31. Equal opening : ISO. As in isobar.

32. Place to buy tkts. : STN

33. Teases : RIDES

39. Irrespective of : NO MATTER. WHATEVER has 8 letters too.

42. Some silverware parts : TINES

45. In addition : AT THAT

47. Nip and tuck : CLOSE

48. Smashed : OILED. Yet another slang for "drunk".

49. Birthplace of Merle Oberon : INDIA. I don't even know who Merle Oberon was. British actress.

51. __ Maria Remarque, author of "All Quiet on the Western Front" : ERICH. Nope. This author is not in my memory shelf either.

53. Notes : MEMOS

55. Steer clear of : SHUN

57. "Off the Court" autobiographer : ASHE (Arthur)

59. Fast time : LENT. I've never fasted. Don't have the will.

61. Art today? : ARE. "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?". Great clue.

62. Lincoln's st. : NEB

Answer grid.

C.C.