New York Times, Thursday, October 3, 2019

Very happy to be making my NYT debut, especially with a Thursday puzzle! Thursdays have a lot of my favorite themes, and I hope this one fits in with the rest.

The original plan was a "magic mirror" theme, where magic-themed words reflected across the center of the puzzle. I found lots of trouble getting the grid to work with me, and I later found that David Kwong executed it pretty darn well a few years ago. Ideas developed, and I landed on the idea of replacing the word MIRROR with a mirror image of the word before it. As a bonus, I got to include BLACK MIRROR, which everyone should be watching always.

I'm happy with the edits Will & co. made; I was very much expecting tougher clues in the final version, and the editors delivered. I'm a little sad that DOT got re-clued as an acronym instead of a word, but the other edits more than make up for it, so I'll live.

A note on ABIERTO, as I suspect it's going to be tough for many solvers: I first had DELPHI/RAISE TO/USA/MEDS as 6- to 9-Down, and I think it's much better fill. It was changed because RAISE TO was hella hard to clue; I had [Set at, as a thermostat in winter], which a test solver told me was pretty strange, so I refilled with ABIERTO. In retrospect, sticking with RAISE TO was the move, but the final version wasn't too bad, and I'm very happy with the finished product.

Hope you enjoy the puzzle!

Mirror, mirror, in the grid, is there another smarter than I, god forbid?

(My mirror took the fifth.)

Four ___ MIRROR phrases, given a literal interpretation. The concept reminded me of that VAMPIRE puzzle by David Kwong that was sheer genius, as well as another by Tom McCoy playing on the mirror symmetry certain letters exhibit.

Ricky managed to find four ___ MIRROR phrases that were both recognizable, and that paired up in lengths for crossword symmetry — well done! I did hesitate at the first one, as the DAILY MIRROR is buried somewhere deep in the recesses of my brain, but I ended up liking that. If VANITY MIRROR had been the first themer, it might have given away the game too quickly.

ONE-WAY MIRROR did seem a bit off. You don't see a reflection in a ONE-WAY MIRROR, right? I'd have loved if solvers had been lulled into this theme pattern, and then given the jolt of ONE-WAY (without a reflection) ending the puzzle.

Interesting choice of fill in ABIERTO. Given that my daughter goes to a Spanish immersion school and that I've traveled throughout Central and South America, I should have plunked it in without a single cross. At least I didn't need all seven crossing answers to get it!

(Fine, it was six.)

I ended up liking Ricky's decision to use it — DULCE de leche, too. I enjoy when a constructor lends some of their background to a puzzle, as Mangesh did yesterday. Although bonuses like BIRDS NEST and RANSACK are more accessible (and potentially juicier) to a wider crowd, there are pluses to including constructor-specific terminology, too.

Plaudits for the gridwork. With four themers, Ricky could have gone platanos and worked in a couple more long bonuses, but for a debut, I like the decision to err on the side of keeping the final product clean. Just a bit of AIRE and ETDS made for a smooth solve.

Overall, a well-crafted debut, if not as audacious as I like my Thursday puzzles to be.