September 26, 2022

Title: VIRTUAL ZOO

Constructors: Kavin Pawittranon & Nijah Morris

Editor: Erik Agard

Theme Answers:

KEYBOARD CAT (20A: "Play Him Off, ___" (early internet meme))

MOUSE DEER (31A: Smallest of all hoofed animals)

MONITOR LIZARD (41A: Komodo dragon, for example)

Theme synopsis: Each of the theme answers is an animal, whose name begins with a computer item. In our VIRTUAL ZOO, we have a CAT, DEER, and LIZARD using a KEYBOARD, MOUSE, and MONITOR.

Things I learned:

• ELA (30A: School subject involving writing (Abbr.)) ELA stands for English Language Arts. This took me some time to figure out, because this abbreviation wasn't used when I was in school (Back in my day...!). That doesn't make it wrong, obviously; it just meant I was thankful for crossing answers.
• OLD HEADS (51A: "Back in my day..." types) This is a new term to me. Does that make me an OLD HEAD? It may simply mean I need to listen to more rap music.
• CREEPERS (22A: Sneaky exploding enemies in Minecraft) Confession: I have never played Minecraft. Fortunately, once I had a few letters filled in from crossing answer, it was pretty easy to figure out the answer. CREEPERS, as the name suggest, creep up on players in Minecraft. They then explode, destroying blocks and potentially damaging the player. 

Random thoughts and interesting things:

• OXYMORON (15A: "Old news" or "Original copy") This is my favorite clue (of many fabulous clues) in this puzzle. It's one of those that when I first read it I thought, "I have no idea," and then when I figured it out, "Of course!" An OXYMORON is a figure of speech made up of two words with opposite meaning.
• KEYBOARD CAT (20A: "Play Him Off, ___" (early internet meme)) KEYBOARD CAT is the nickname given to an orange tabby CAT (whose name was actually Fatso), after his owner posted a video of him playing the piano. The original video was recorded in 1984, but not posted on the Internet until 2007. In 2009, someone used the video with the tagline, "Play Him Off, KEYBOARD CAT," and this lead to a series of mashup videos and memes being created. KEYBOARD CAT is generally used to note a failure of some sort. The original KEYBOARD CAT (Fatso) passed away before he achieved Internet fame. Fatso's owner adopted a new cat named Bento, who has assumed the title of KEYBOARD CAT for media appearances. Here's a photo of Willow doing her own version of KEYBOARD CAT. 

  

  KEYBOARD CAT

  
  
• MOUSE DEER (31A: Smallest of all hoofed animals) MOUSE DEER live in forests in South and Southeast Asia. They have an average length of 18 inches, and an average height of 12 inches, making them, as the clue informs us, the smallest hoofed animal in the world. 
• MONITOR LIZARD (41A: Komodo dragon, for example) In contrast to the MOUSE DEER, the MONITOR LIZARD known as the Komodo dragon is the largest species of LIZARD, growing to a length of 10 feet. 
• RED CORAL (47A: Jewelry material from the sea) Googling "RED CORAL jewelry" provides many examples of this use.
• TEAPOT (3D: "I'm a little ___, short and stout") Did you sing this clue? 
• PEPSI (29D: Cola brand originally advertised as an indigestion remedy) Isn't this a fun fact? The original name of PEPSI was "Brad's Drink." It was renamed PEPSI-Cola in 1898. The PEPSI part of the name comes from the word "dyspepsia" (indigestion), which it was advertised to relieve, and COLA referred to its flavor. 

Geography review:

• MALAYSIAN (1D: Like teh tarik and nasi lemak) Malaysia is a Southeastern Asian country that is separated into two regions by the South China Sea. Those two regions are Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. Teh tarek is a hot milk beverage made with strong black tea and condensed milk. Nasi lemak is a dish of rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf. Teh tarik and nasi lemak are MALAYSIAN in origin, and are considered the national drink and dish of Malaysia.

This puzzle is a VIRTUAL ZOO! What a fun theme, with three fabulous theme answers. I really enjoyed the cluing today. Just to shoutout a few clues: (10A: It comes in plain and "everything" varieties) for BAGEL, (38A: Film technology used for Thor's lightning) for CGI, (Cookies-for-$$$ event) for BAKE SALE, (11D: "Star Wars" character with a Hopi hairstyle) for LEIA, and the already mentioned OXYMORON. Congratulations to Kavin Pawittranon and Nijah Morris making their USA Today debut today! Thank you, Kavin and Nijah, for this puzzle that was a delightful start to my Monday.