It's time to wrap up the month with a challenging themeless. Keep an eye out for tricky clues and fun wordplay. This week's puzzle was constructed by **Geoffrey Schorkopf and Brian Callahan**, and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. Geoffrey is an Atlanta Hawks fan. Brian is a Chicago Bulls fan. In addition to making crosswords together, they’ve bonded over mediocre basketball.
Defector crosswords, launched in partnership with [our friends at AVCX](https://avxwords.com/), run every Monday. If you’re interested in submitting a puzzle to us, you can read our guidelines [**HERE**](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vsMt8kzQug6h9qe9B2LObcxUFt0T-ESp/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=106271002798661393791&rtpof=true&sd=true).