Theme: Route puns. Double word roadway terms with the first word having a second meaning
17. Routes to work for a bell ringer?: TOLL ROADS. The sound of a bell, a price to pay.
32. Routes to work for a water company engineer?: MAIN STREETS.Water main, the name of the principle street in many towns.
41. Routes to work for a window treatment installer?: BLIND ALLEYS. Window blinds, and a road with only one way in or out
59. Routes to work for a diet guru?: FAST LANES. To abstain from eating, (usually) the innermost lane on a highway, freeway, or turnpike.
Other words in the puzzle loosely related to the theme:
16A. Mayflower employee: MOVER
62A. Unlucky fisherman's catch, in comics: TIRE.
63A. It's hard to run on it: EMPTY.
31D. Classic Jags: XKES.
Here we go, dissecting an offering from our own Jerome. I found this puzzle to be a bit easier than the past couple of Thursdays, no black marks for me from AcrossLite. Seemed like there were quite a few proper nouns, but a pretty good balance of perps that allowed enough room to guess at them. I especially liked: 46D. Who's on it, 60A. gadget on a pad, and 63A It's hard to run on it. There was a bit of crosswordese here and there, but sometimes those are all I have to get started. When that happens, I know I'm in trouble. Not today though.
Al
ACROSS:
1. Balkan native: SERB.
5. "Fernando" singers: ABBA. Their group name for their first commercial single was originally Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid (Frida). Why would you ever change that?
9. Obviously impressed: AGAPE.
14. Maker of Java Freeze: ICEE. 210 calories = 58 minutes of brisk walking.
15. No bull: TRUE. Apparently from old French boll, deception, trick, scheming, intrigue
19. "SNL" alum Cheri: OTERI.
20. Mourned poetically: ELEGIZED.
21. Leave in the dust: OUTRUN. "Blow the doors off of" would have made this word theme related as well.
22. Do an usher's job: SEE IN.
23. New Ager with the album "Dare to Dream": YANNI.
25. View from la costa: AGUA. Depending on which coast, the view today would more likely be el petróleo instead of water.
28. Hood's heater: GAT. Old gangster movie slang for machine guns, from the original rapid fire weapon invented by Richard Gatling. Gat eventually came to mean any gun. Another term for a gun was an "eraser" as in 37A. Rubs out: OFFS. Shortened form of "kills off".
29. "Sour grapes" critter: FOX. Aesop's Fable
36. Proceeding normally: AOK. Unrelated to this, but worth mentioning, Karaoke means "empty orchestra" in Japanese.
38. Peace personified: IRENE. Greek goddess.
39. Shipwright's tool: ADZE. Related to axe, hatchet
40. Response to "Speak!": ARF. Talking dogs.
43. Cracker Jack bonus: TOY.
44. Tyler of "Jersey Girl": LIV. A pic with her Dad Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Sure, the resemblance is obvious...
45. Divided sea: ARAL.
46. Knocks for a loop: FAZES.
48. Like a milquetoast's spouse, often: BOSSY. Caspar Milquetoast, the timid soul, an old comic strip.
52. Wish for: DESIRE. I wish I had not done a google image search for desiree with the safe search option off. What has been seen cannot be unseen.
55. Payload's place: NOSECONE. Payload originally referred to the revenue producing portion of a conveyance. With a bomb attached to a rocket, that lends a whole new meaning to the term "money shot".
58. Ornament: ADORN. Used as a verb, not a fragile glass ball.
60. Gadget on a pad: MOUSE.
61. Bug and more: RILE.
64. Tons: A LOT.
65. Chows down: EATS.
DOWN:
1. Developer's offerings: SITES. Real estate.
2. Nice school?: ECOLE. French city, pronounced like "niece". French word for school.
3. J.E.B. Stuart's boss: R. E. LEE. Confederate generals, James Edward Brown (Stuart), Robert Edward Lee.
4. Antwerp natives: BELGIANS. Also Flemish, but that was a letter short.
5. The whole kit and caboodle: A TO Z.
6. Scottish hillside: BRAE. From old words for eye and eyebrow becoming the brow of a hill.
7. One to hang with: BUDDY.
8. 1950s political monogram: AES. Adlai Ewing Stevenson. Defeated twice for the Democratic bid for president by DDE, later because Ambassador to the UN.
9. Is equivalent (to): AMOUNTS. That don't amount to a brae 'o beans.
10. "The Teflon Don": GOTTI. Almost all attempts at getting a conviction didn't stick to him.
11. State firmly: AVER. Related words: verify and very. To make true or prove to be true.
12. Emperor Atahualpa's land: PERU. The last Incan emperor, died in 1533.
13. The Auld Sod: ERIN. The old land, Ireland.
18. Audi logo quartet: RINGS.
21. Painting the town red: ON A TEAR. A riotous spree.
24. Chairman's list: AGENDA.
26. Put into play: UTILIZE. I hate it when someone utilizes this word (see how silly that sounds?). It just sounds like the person is trying to impress you with his vocabulary instead of his (lack of) knowledge. Reminds me too much of corporate-speak, a faker's language used to make a lot of noise without actually saying anything at all. Just use "use".
27. Make it big: ARRIVE. After 30 years of practice you too can become an overnight sensation.
29. Lose vitality: FADE.
30. Like sap: OOZY.
32. Zoo barrier: MOAT.
33. Early Jesse Jackson do: AFRO. Hairdo.
34. Up in the air: IFFY.
35. Bard's nightfall: EEN.
39. Parcel out: ALLOCATE. To locate, to place.
41. Flattery: BLARNEY. Lady Blarny, the smooth-talking flatterer in Goldsmith's "Vicar of Wakefield" (1766) preceded naming the Blarney Stone (1796).
42. Bar code's place: LABEL.
46. Who's on it: FIRST. The old Abbot and Costello routine. Who is the name of the man that is the first baseman.
47. Spiral-shelled creature: SNAIL.
49. Widow of Rajiv Gandhi: SONIA. Never even saw this clue, got it all through perps.
50. Hägar's dog: SNERT. Comic strip characters by Chris Browne.
51. Toadies' words: YESES. Originally, a toady traveled with a medicine man and literally ate a toad (which was thought to be poisonous) to enable his master to "cure" him and sell to all the easy marks. Not so different from ads on TV today.
52. Title for Kiri Te Kanawa: DAME. Operatic soprano.
53. Nation of Esau: EDOM. Esau was the brother of Jacob, the founder of Israel. Talk about sibling rivalry.
54. First course, sometimes: SOUP.
56. City founded by King Harald III: OSLO. Burned to the ground, then was rebuilt and renamed Christiana. Later it was renamed back to Oslo again.
57. Proofer's mark: STET. Let it stand, change the change back to the original text.
59. Monk's title: FRA. Friar. Probably derived from the French word frère ("brother" in English). According to Wiki, friars and monks aren't quite the same. A Monk is devoted to and lives within a single community away from the rest of the world, and a Friar has a wider range, spending time in each of several different provinces, but doing similar work.
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