John

Am I the only one that got saw the asterisk in 1A, and skipped it thinking it was part of the puzzle theme? If so, my two cups of coffee aren't working yet...

I got the word play for 5A immediately, but struggled with the actual answer. I tried ORCHESTRA (too long) and WIND BAND (crosses didn't work), then wasn't sure what other music genre had horns. Turns out I missed a few genres of music! (Also, I was thinking "horns" as only French horns, rather than a synonym for instruments...)

42A: Definitely nitpicking here, as Wii is technically correct (as there is a "Mario Kart Wii"), but Mario Kart is a franchise name and not the name of a specific game. There are many consoles with Mario Kart as a game; every major Nintendo console since the Super Nintendo Entertainment System has a Mario Kart, with none of them just called "Mario Kart." There's also a game on iOS and an arcade game.