Thursday January 17th 2019, NY Times Crossword

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Time: 10:47
Tuesday Average: 25:45
Best Tuesday: 10:18

I cruised through the Western half of this grid while wondering why I was having so much more trouble with the East. After dropping THE LOOKING GLASS for "What Alice goes through to find 'Jabberwocky' printed backward," I took a quick breather, thought about the nonsensical KU--- beginning for "Brexit land," and thought, "Oh, of course, mirror image puzzle." It's Thursday trickiness, which is to be expected, but the clues are generally Monday level difficulty. So, I came close to a Thursday record, slowed mostly by the fact that the crossword app does not cooperate with trying to enter a clue backward. I like the cleverness of the palindromic REVIVER in the middle.

One answer that was unfamiliar to me forward or backward was ISOBAR, which turns out to be a "line on a map connecting points having the same atmospheric pressure at a given time or on average over a given period."

There are a couple awkward plurals and forms such as ELEANORS, HATREDS, BASALTS, and ESCORTEE. If you're going to have multiple Eleanors, surely a "The Good Place" clue would be the way to go about it. I also prefer a Star Wars clue to an Italy clue for TUSCAN. Hey George, you know that there are Tuscan people on Earth, right? 

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