Cannot separate CiviCRM database tables from Wordpress tables on installation
OK. I was able to fix it by 


Directly editing wp-content/uploads/civicrm/civicrm.settings.php to point to the new clean civicrm-only DB.
Exporting the civicrm tables only from my original wordpress DB.
Importing the exported civicrm tables into the new, blank civicrm-only DB.
Dropping the civicrm tables from the original wordpress DB so it is wp-only.


All seems to be working, but it seems like I should have been able to easily set this up with the install script, which seemed to override anything that I put in for the CiviCRM DB by the WordPress DB.

All looks OK. For the more experienced CiviCRM folks, can there be any gotchas here?