L. A. Time Crossword Puzzle Blogging Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Bruce Haight

Theme:  Being in Agreement.  Common expressions indicating agreement are reimagined as being directed to their most amusingly appropriate recipients.  And, impressively, they are all grid spanners. Rather an unusual approach.  Let's have a look.

17 A. Yes, to a cowboy? : YOU BET YOUR BOOTS.  Evidently, this expression goes back to the old west ,where a good pair of boots was as important as a reliable horse.   These days, they also make a fashion statement.

You bet

27 A. Yes, to an architect? : SOUNDS LIKE A PLAN.  Bit of wordplay here, equating a plan of action with a design drawing of a proposed structure.

  Let's plan on it

43 A. Yes, to a traffic court judge? : SUITS ME JUST FINE.  The traffic court judge is likely to issue a FINE, but there are other possibilities with this one.   Law SUITS are also settled in court, or one might obtain a SUIT of clothes from a haberdasher, and thus become SUITED in a FINE way.

Judges' suits are rather drab

54. Yes, to the Magic 8 Ball : IT IS DECIDEDLY SO.   The Magic 8 Ball has been available since the 1950's and is manufactured by Mattel.  It provides one of 20 possible answers to yes/no type questions. IT IS DECIDEDLY SO is one of the 10 positive answers that the Ball might provide.  The other 10 responses are evenly divided between negative and non-committal. 

Correctness of answers not guaranteed

Hi, Gang - JazzBumpa here, and in an agreeable frame of mind.  My last Blog outing at the Corner was a hair raising experience, coincidentally, also with Bruce.  Our stars also aligned back in January, so this is getting to be a bit of a habit.  Let's see if we can have positive responses to all of today's crossword questions.

Care Diem #936

The challenge today is to write a haiku using paradox.  This strikes me as being a very zen exercise.

The first one is built around something my father once said about a grumpy man - hence, a senryu.

The second is a nature snapshot - more legitimately a haiku, I think.

It's late, I'm tired.  This is all I've got.

that old curmudgeon 

the only time he’s happy

is when he is sad

~~::~~

a blazing sunset

turning waves red and orange

the sea is on fire

~~:::~~:::~~

C D H U

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #72 Use that quote

Hello haijin and long lost friends.  Once again I return return to Carpe Diem Haiku Kai.

For this week's episode of Tokubetsudesu themed "Use That Quote" I have a nice quote for you by the Dalai Lama. A real nice quote which gives you a lot of space to create haiku (or tanka).

Here is the quote by the 14th Dalai Lama for your inspiration:

[...] "The purpose of our lives is to be happy". [...]  Dalai Lama

It's a nice quote as you can see and it really gives you freedom to create / compose an all new haiku, tanka or other Japanese poetry form.

Since they speak of the human condition, I suppose the first two entries are senryu rather than haiku.

living the moment

happiness and a full life

found in simple things

~~::~~

the way of love

to find your own happiness

make someone happy

~~::~~

springtime vibrations

the hum of a fly-struck web

happy orb weaver

~~::~~::~~

Carpe Diem Tokubetsudesu #72 Use that quote

L.A. Times Crossword puzzle Blogging - Wednesday, March 9, 2016 Bruce Haight

Cross posted at The Corner

Theme: Will my do do for you? The second words of common two-word phrases are relocated to a common location, as indicated by the unifier, so let's start there.

62. Permanent place, and a hint to the ends of the answers to starred clues : HAIR SALON.  Nice play on "permanent" indicating something of long duration, or, as in this case, a coif treatment. The SALON, of course, is the place where it all happens.

17. *Seriously indoctrinate : BRAIN WASH.  Generally BRAIN WASHING involves some radical or extreme set of ideas, and some powerful coaxing.  A HAIR WASH might be the first step in the SALON's process.

21. *Improvised rap : FREE STYLE.  New usage to me, but it's a real thing.  HAIR STYLE is the way the actual tresses are arranged.

28. *Risqué : OFF COLOR.  Of questionable taste, not suitable for polite company, or as we say here: DF.  The phrase evidently arose ca. 1860 in the diamond industry, referring to stones that are not pure white or of any definite color, and therefore of poor quality.  Hair COLORing is a SALON service.

37. *Weight-training exercise : BICEP CURL.   Demonstrated below.  People with straight HAIR want to acquire a CURL.  This seems to work the other way, as well.

49. *Markdown : PRICE CUT.  Of course, those of us with HAIR need to have it CUT occasionally, even if, as in my case, there's not a lot of it.  A PRICE CUT means you can save money on your purchase - but not as much as if you opt not to make it.

56. *Brand created in Toronto in 1904 : CANADA DRY.  Soft drinks.  And drying the HAIR is what completes the process.

Hi gang - JazzBumpa here, doing my part, so to speak.  With 6 theme entries plus a unifier, this puzzle is unusually thematically rich.  Let's see if we can make it through without getting either clipped or locked up.