Consider the word "glow." If you replace each letter with its counterpart in a mirror alphabet you will get the legitimate word "told." What other words exhibit this same property?
So I started wrote a little script in Python:
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import re
if __name__ == "__main__":
src = open("/usr/share/dict/cracklib-small", "r")
words = set()
for word in src:
word = word.strip()
if len(word) == 1 or re.match('[^a-z]', word):
continue
words.add(word)
src.close()
for word in words:
mirror = "".join(chr(219-ord(c)) for c in word)
if mirror in words:
print(word, mirror)
This script uses the computer's dictionary file (which I've used before), mutates the letters, then checks if the result is in the dictionary. The script outputs:
all zoo ark zip art zig blip york de wv dr wi drib wiry elm von era viz err vii fir uri fm un ge tv girl trio girt trig glib tory glow told gm tn gs th hob sly hold slow holt slog holy slob horn slim ir ri irk rip iv re ivy reb levi over low old lug oft md nw me nv mix nrc mn nm mrs nih ms nh nh ms nih mrs nm mn nrc mix nv me nw md oft lug old low over levi re iv reb ivy ri ir rip irk slim horn slob holy slog holt slow hold sly hob th gs tn gm told glow tory glib trig girt trio girl tv ge un fm uri fir vii err viz era von elm wi dr wiry drib wv de york blip zig art zip ark zoo all
As a sanity check, notice that "glow" does indeed turn into "told" (and vice versa).
Problem solved in 10 minutes.
PS. I would have commented on the post, but I have no clue what my NYTimes password is.
