New York Times, Thursday, January 17, 2019

If you identify as LGBT and/or POC and/or non-male, and you're looking to get into crossword constructing, I'd be thrilled to offer whatever assistance I can to help you get your puzzles published. Contact me via Instagram: @rosstrudeau

This puzzle takes an old idea (backward answers) and solves a problem that some such puzzles face: elegantly demarcating which answers follow the gimmick. The only nit I could pick with this ingenious Kevin G. Der puzzle was that the puzzle didn't try to rationalize which rows/columns moved backward.

For me, THE LOOKING GLASS was both a neat revealer and a good solution to the above problem. Once Alice (that's you, solver--you're Alice) passes through THE LOOKING GLASS, she's in backwards territory. And any answers passing through the boundary are palindromes that get "reflected" by the mirror.

Loved this one. Loved, loved, loved. As Ross points out, the palindromes in the middle — SOLOS, SOS, REVIVER, etc. — make a perfect transition zone into the mirror world. I've seen many mirror puzzles, including one that stands out with its amazing craftsmanship, but today's has such a fantastic story behind it. Alice going through THE LOOKING GLASS is spot on.

So well executed today. It would have been much easier to stick to a higher word count, but that wouldn't have allowed for so much goodness. JAMPACKS is right! SPLIT RUN, COMO ESTA, AVENGERS, LOL CAT, HAEY LLEH! Er, HELL YEAH!

The right side is easier to construct than you might think because you can create a separate file containing the middle palindrome linkages, and work on it as if it were your left side. Then, you flip the grid along a vertical axis.

Right, you've stopped listening. Anyhoo, unmasking the technical tricks doesn't make the result any less impressive.

A couple of missed opportunities in ELEANORS ESCORTEE. That might argue for putting a black square at the P of JAM PACKS and the U of DISGUSTS, to see if you could get those two corners smoother while keeping up the snazziness. But since the rest of the puzzle has so little by way of crossword glue (just EER) or oddball words, I'm fine with Ross's decision.

I was so confused by KUEHT, especially since it was one of the first backward answers I uncovered. THEUK = THE UK, such a nice piece of fill, resulting in a delightful mini a-ha.

This one will stick in my mind as strongly as Jason's. Maybe even more so.

P.S. Ross told me that he's gotten dozens of requests for help from budding constructors with diverse backgrounds! It's great to see Ross take this initiative. Let Jim or me know if we can help as well (email us through the home page).

This is the 39^th NYT crossword that requires entering at least one answer backward. Here are the rest: list or thumbnails.

My favorite "mirror" puzzle didn't exactly require entering answers backward. Check out this Joe Krozel gimmick from 2008.