"Metaphorical Animals" by benchen71

[whimsy]

Same as DrTom -- pretty much one word from #4 dumped me in the castle. Was fun finding all the meta beasts in the grid. Thanks, Ben!

[Clark E. Tripe]

This one was right in my tech wheelhouse! De-MOAT-ed!

[MikeyG]

Yeah, there's something I'm missing, but I'll try to get these animals together later! (Haven't you herd?)

[benchen71]

The nudges have clearly helped some of you to wrangle those pesky metaphorical animals:

THC
Mg305
SeamusOL
Teamdoubletow
Spid4567
DrTom
Dow Jones
DCBilly
kurtalert
Clark E Tripe
MrTheHan
Johnny Luau
rayyandroid
frostyjhammer
SJMcK
Mike D
capybara
SJ
Chaddog
maturin
LindaPRmaven

That brings us up to 50! Next update will be Monday morning (Australia time) right before the answer reveal.

[Cinny]

It took some Googling but I was finally able to limp across the moat. Thanks, Ben!

[ajk]

Had everything done quickly, but needed nudge 4, as I was unfamiliar with the animal's connection to the tech industry, and google failed to turn it up.
Fun stuff regardless, thanks.

[MikeyG]

Had everything done quickly, but needed nudge 4, as I was unfamiliar with the animal's connection to the tech industry, and google failed to turn it up.
Fun stuff regardless, thanks.

This is where I'm at, haha. To take nudge #4 or not take nudge #4, that is the question.

[edestlin]

Needed nudge 4. Had it all right up to nudge 3 and my Google-fu failed to uncover the answer. Like others, I learned something today!

[CPJohnson]

Needed nudge 4 and floundered across the moat.

[benchen71]

Final solver update, bringing us up to 62:

Cindy Heisler
Ashutosh Sodhani
whimsy
Pair O Ducks
DebbieC
ajk
JHSeeman
Tane
edestlin
CPJohnson
Mikey G
jbird

[benchen71]

Here's the solution for "Metaphorical Animals":

A few people struggled with the GRAY entry, with good reason. The term "gray rhino" was only coined in 2016 in a book by Michelle Wucker. (See here for the comparison between black swans and gray rhinos.)

It also turns out that not everyone has heard of warrant canaries. I guess my connection to internet security (I teach various computing subjects at secondary level) meant I underestimated their ubiquity in the public consciousness. That said, I must have had some qualms about this puzzle, since it was a rare one I got play-tested (or was I submitting it to MMM? I don't remember.) However, I seem to recall Abide saying that it was a very obscure answer. But I went ahead with it anyway! For more information see here.

[KayW]

I hadn't heard of the term but I was able to google it. I couldn't seem to find it by searching for variations on METAPHOR ANIMALS WARRANT, so in the search bar I just started typing "WARRANT A" "WARRANT B" and when I typed "WARRANT C", the canary popped up. I'm glad it wasn't a WARRANT ZEBRA (but really, it was not that tedious)

And I found it a fascinating topic to learn about, so thanks very much for yet another educational meta!

[benchen71]

And I found it a fascinating topic to learn about, so thanks very much for yet another educational meta!

Once a teacher, always a teacher!