Fauna on Flora

Solution

by Alex Gotsis

Answer:
MALACHITE

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In this puzzle, we are presented with a crossword over a kind of gradient.

We can solve the mostly straight clues, but notice along the way a few interesting ones, including 25D mentioning a "Puzzle type to look for next", 35A helping determine "What you will make after solving this crossword". There are also curious * and † marked clues. (Crosshare available)

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Across

1AArticleAN
4AVenetian official, or currency tickerDOGE
7APoet CummingsEE
9AMachine partCOG
12ADonkeyASS
15AJason who directed "Arthur"WINER
17AHarvard institution known for arch. and artGSD
18ASentence structure common in modern Hebrew, abbr.SVO
19ASilent assentNOD
20AGreek mil. group of W.W. IIELAS
21ATicker of one of the mag. sevenGOOG
23AProminent Chinese dissidentXIAOBO
24AGerman paramilitary organization during W.W. IISS
26A"___ Doubtfire"MRS
29A*Having depthTHREED
33AAL West team, on scoreboardsLAA
35AWhat you will make after solving this crosswordLOOP
36ASayEG
37A†Bed sizeTWIN
39ALentil dishDAL
41ABog downMIRE
42ACreative sparkIDEA
45ALennon's wifeONO
47AMe and youUS
48A1982 science fiction filmET
49AA simple sugarGLUCOSE
53ATake notice, abbr.NB
54ACounty prosecutor, brieflyDA
57ACamera mode option, e.g. on iPhonesHDR
59A"Say it isn't so!"OHNO
60AFormatting lang.CSS
62ASmoke, for shortCIG
63ASome car parts, abbr.OEM
65ADesc. for a relay that conducts electricity by defaultNC
67AStrategy game with a 19x19 gridGO
68ARating system used in zero-sum gamesELO
69AType of checklist before surg., perhapsPREOP
71ASuffix for a parentSR
72ACommercialsADS
74A*21% of the atmosphereOTWO
77ADept. in charge of enforcing standardsQA
78ASome lubricantsOILS
81AFlavor enhancer, for shortMSG
83AHawaii, e.g., abbr.ISL
85AHard drive company, for shortWD
87A†TogethernessUNITY
89ACall to a mateAHOY
91A*Space effect, brieflyZEROG
93AIt may be riggedMAST
95AAA hubMIA
97AChinese company known for phonesXIAOMI
100ALast letter in LeedsZED
102ABritish verb endingISE
103A†Chinese organized crime group, or the unclued of which in 35A order form what you seek overallTRIAD
104ASW that manages computer HWOS
105ASuperlative suffixEST
107A†Prefix with sexualBI
108A*2016 gaming console refreshONES
109ALetters on the tail of a Japanese planeANA
110ATrade showEXPO
111AColoring agentDYE

Down

1D"Wow!"AWESOME
2D†2021 NCAA policy change subjectNIL
3DSmittenENAMORED
4DFrench prepositionDES
5DTLD for nonprofitsORG
6DComponent of Freud's psyche modelEGO
7DAlt. investment strategy considering nontraditional factorsESG
8DCom. sex-related conditionED
9DFreight railway company in the eastern USCSX
10DRoman poetOVID
11DAspirationsGOALS
12DSmall buffaloANOA
13DJapanese noodlesSOBA
14DHeliocentric NASA mission, abbr.SDO
16DWhat good citizens doVOTE
22DDarnSEW
25DPuzzle type to look for nextSLITHER
27D"Walkabout" director NicolasROEG
28DToddler's mishapSPILL
30DAtomic symbol which doesn't share any letters with its elementHG
31DLarger transit planning agency near Chi.RTA
32DGerman articleEIN
34DSahara Las Vegas, form.SLS
38DNegative prefixNON
39D†Bottom of a suitDEUCE
40DHalf of A/VAUDIO
43DFrench for "of the"DU
44DEarly NATO alphabet letterECHO
46DOut of date, abbr., or a streaming softwareOBS
50D†___ DirectionONE
51D†Red cup brandSOLO
52DGreen prefixECO
55DAtomic symbol which doesn't share any letters with its elementAG
56DWindows pred.DOS
58DNursing cert.RN
59DOrig.OG
61DIt might be O(log(n))SPAN
64DPeriodical, for shortMAG
66DPopular STEM majorCS
70DCapitalist's goalROI
73DNeeding assembly, for shortDIY
74D"good 4 u" singer RodrigoOLIVIA
75DCommon compressed Linux archive extensionTGZ
76D"SmackDown!" org.WWE
77DQuid pro ___QUO
79DWhat a virus might cause cells to doLYSE
80DMil. rankSGT
81DInsaneMAD
82DCommon scripting file extensionSH
84DFlies like an eagleSOARS
86DScientific research facility in B.C. Can. that performed the first astronomical observations using VLBIDRAO
88DBugs Bunny adversary, for shortTAZ
90DWarning signOMEN
92DThe original meme stk.GME
93DJapanese soupMISO
94DIATA code for airport in Guilford County, NCGSO
96DDept. for computer helpIT
98DB.C. neighborIDA
99DMac platformOSX
101D†Prefix with -chotomyDI
102DComponent of Freud's psyche modelID
106DQB's goalTD
107DTo one sideBY

From 25D and 35A, we can conclude that we are intended to construct a slitherlink puzzle. We can look at the * and † in combination with the flavortext. The flavor states we “first have to replace all of some words - then all of certain letters”. The * clues (in yellow) solve to ZEROG, ONES, OTWO, and THREED. The † (in blue) clues all seem to be semantically related to numbers. We can note the rest of 103A for later as well. We can infer we should replace all of the words in the † with their semantically related number, and that the * clues provide a mapping of letters in the crossword to numbers to be used as slitherlink clues!

We apply this transformation, which results in this grid.

Unsolved Penpa+

We can solve the slitherlink by hand or with a solver (tear) - and have this resulting grid.

Solved Penpa+

We note 103A’s instruction on the TRIADs - the “unclued of which in 35A [LOOP] order form what you seek overall”. We can interpret unclued TRIADs as unclued 3s in the slitherlink - that is locations that have 3 edges, but were not provided as 3s by the rules of the slitherlink construction.

Overlaying on the crossword - we can read off the answer, MALACHITE.

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