Better Late Than Never

Here's the problem with having a forgetful guest blogger. I completely spaced that I was supposed to blog the Sun puzzle, not just the NYT.

Thank you, Robert (a/k/a norrin2) for pointing this out. I'll comment briefly on it, but for a more detailed commentary, check him out at Green Genius.

On to the puzzle.

Robert E. Lee Morris (was he named for the great crossword fill?) gives us Madison Avenue Skool of Spelling. The four theme answers were:

17A: Toothpaste brand (Ultra Brite)
30A: Golf ball brand (Top Flite)
42A: Soda brand (Diet Rite)
55A: Beer brand (Miller Lite)

I only use Crest, I don't golf, I can't stand diet soda, and the only thing worse than that is sissy beer. But it made for an easy puzzle.

I loved 1A: Lose your marbles (go mad) and 61A: Adjective on a shoppe sign (olde). When we were kids, we always pronounced the E on olde and shoppe. Intentionally, as I recall.

Always glad to see 60A: John who sang "Daniel" and "Levon" (Elton). If you've read my profile, you know he's one of my favorites, dating back to his more flamboyant days. We saw his Red Piano Tour at Caesar's Palace a couple of years ago. It was phenomenal.

Atari (28D), extol (32D), sloe (58A), and missal (44A) were all in recent Times puzzles. Unless I'm making that up...

I absolutely loved seeing Rex in the puzzle (21A), and especially that he shared his X with Trix (7D).

I also liked the intersection of in fact and if so, at 47 across and down, as well as the L-shaped O grouping in that same corner.

I sure hope I won't get fired for this. Orange is paying me as much as Rex did when I guest-blogged for him last month!