THURSDAY, July 15, 2010 — Jerome Gunderson

Theme: Street Names — Theme answers are familiar names for various types of roadways, with the first word of each defined in a different way and clued accordingly.


Theme answers:

• 17A: Routes to work for a bell ringer? (TOLL ROADS).
• 32A: Routes to work for a water company engineer? (MAIN STREETS).
• 41A: Routes to work for a window treatment installer? (BLIND ALLEYS).
• 59A: Routes to work for a diet guru? (FAST LANES).

I really enjoyed this breezy little puzzle. The theme is clever and there's enough good stuff in the fill to distract from all the crosswordese. (And I don't mean that as a backhanded compliment. I honestly didn't notice all the crosswordese while I was solving. I only saw it afterwards and was kinda surprised.) Obviously, the LA Times puzzles are still ending up on the "Too Easy" end of the spectrum, but I have a feeling (oh God please) that I will be eating those words tomorrow and Saturday.

Talking points:

• 5A: "Fernando" singers (ABBA). I heard Mr. Big on the radio yesterday. Remember that sappy little hit they had, "I'm the One Who Wants to Be With You"? "Fernando" replaced it in my head for about two minutes and now it's back. Grateful I don't know any songs off YANNI's "Dare to dream" album (23A: New Ager with the album "Dare to Dream").
• 16A: Mayflower employee (MOVER). Were you thinking Mayflower the ship? Well this is Mayflower the big truck.
• 25A: View from la costa (AGUA). Spanish!

• 38A: Peace personified (IRENE). My very first thought was … Gandhi. And I hadn't even seen 49D yet! (49D: Widow of Rajiv Gandhi (SONIA)).
• 58A: Ornament (ADORN). Ooh, the old word-you-think-of-as-a-noun-used-as-a-verb trick. Well played, sir.
• 62A: Unlucky fisherman's catch, in comics (TIRE). I tried boot first.
• 2D: Nice school? (ECOLE). Again with the trickiness. Nice, of course, is a city in France. Maybe you remember when we talked about Nice a while back when we covered ÉTÉ in CW101.
• 10D: "The Teflon Don" (GOTTI). I lived in New York in the mid 80s, when GOTTI was in the news a lot, so this was a gimme for me.
• 12D: Emperor Atahualpa's land (PERU). My eyes sort of skimmed over the emperor's name while I was solving, but now that I have time to look at it — that's an awesome name.

• 30D: Like sap (OOZY). Has this word ever bugged me before? I can see where it might, but today it just made me laugh.
• 33D: Early Jesse Jackson do (AFRO). Problem here was that I pictured Jesse James instead of Jesse Jackson. (Jesse James the dirtbag motorcycle guy, not Jesse James the outlaw.)
• 46D: Who's on it (FIRST). Is it possible I've never used this clip on this blog? I know I've used it somewhere. Well, even if you've seen it before (and, honestly, why would I think you haven't seen it before?), enjoy it again! It's classic!

Crosswordese 101: And the award for Scrabbliest car name ever goes to … [drum roll] … XKE'S! Woo-hoo! The reason I picked this for CW101 today is that I always think there's going to be a J in there somewhere. So I figured if I had to write a little bit about it, I'll remember next time that there's no J. To reiterate: No J in the Class Jag XKE. So if you see the clue "Classic Jag," "Vintage Jac," or "Jaguar of the '60s," remember: The answer is XKE, which does not include a J.

Other crosswordese in the puzzle that we've already covered:

• 19A: "SNL" alum Cheri (OTERI).
• 45A: Divided sea (ARAL).
• 3D: J.E.B. Stuart's boss (R.E. LEE).
• 5D: The whole kit and caboodle (A TO Z).
• 8D: 1950s political monogram (AES).
• 13D: The Auld Sod (ERIN).
• 50D: Hägar's dog (SNERT).
• 56D: City founded by King Harald III (OSLO).
• 57D: Proofer's mark (STET).

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Everything Else — 1A: Balkan native (SERB); 9A: Obviously impressed (AGAPE); 14A: Maker of Java Freeze (ICEE); 15A: No bull (TRUE); 20A: Mourned poetically (ELEGIZED); 21A: Leave in the dust (OUTRUN); 22A: Do an usher's job (SEE IN); 28A: Hood's heater (GAT); 29A: "Sour grapes" critter (FOX); 36A: Proceeding normally (A-OK); 37A: Rubs out (OFFS); 39A: Shipwright's tool (ADZE); 40A: Response to "Speak!" (ARF); 43A: Cracker Jack bonus (TOY); 44A: Tyler of "Jersey Girl" (LIV); 46A: Knocks for a loop (FAZES); 48A: Like a milquetoast's spouse, often (BOSSY); 52A: Wish for (DESIRE); 55A: Payload's place (NOSE CONE); 60A: Gadget on a pad (MOUSE); 61A: Bug and more (RILE); 63A: It's hard to run on it (EMPTY); 64A: Tons (A LOT); 65A: Chows down (EATS); 1D: Developer's offerings (SITES); 4D: Antwerp natives (BELGIANS); 6D: Scottish hillside (BRAE); 7D: One to hang with (BUDDY); 9D: Is equivalent (to) (AMOUNTS); 11D: State firmly (AVER); 18D: Audi logo quartet (RINGS); 21D: Painting the town red (ON A TEAR); 24D: Chairman's list (AGENDA); 26D: Put into play (UTILIZE); 27D: Make it big (ARRIVE); 29D: Lose vitality (FADE); 31D: Classic Jags (XKE'S); 32D: Zoo barrier (MOAT); 34D: Up in the air (IFFY); 35D: Bard's nightfall (E'EN); 39D: Parcel out (ALLOCATE); 41D: Flattery (BLARNEY); 42D: Bar code's place (LABEL); 47D: Spiral-shelled creature (SNAIL); 51D: Toadies' words (YESES); 52D: Title for Kiri Te Kanawa (DAME); 53D: Nation of Esau (EDOM); 54D: First course, sometimes (SOUP); 59D: Monk's title (FRA).