Solution: Insects of the species Myrmica rubra - NYT Crossword

I wonder if Mr. Der meant this clue to be a wink to M. C. Escher or if this entry, RED ANTS, was just a coincidence? M. C. Escher was an artist who used math and graphics to create visual conundrums, staircases that rose while falling, for example, and other impossible widgets. His illustration of red ants on a Mobiüs strip could sort of be likened to the millions of us busily scurrying along our normal routes in a repeating loop; like roads on an island, there’s circularity, no beginning and no end. (It’s also possible that since this first clue wound up running backward, STNADER, there was an incredibly subtle self-reference happening. I favor the Escherian wink theory.)