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The Crossword, Aug. 31: Prepare For Trouble, And Make It Double (Themeless)

11:00 AM EDT on August 31, 2026

Nicole Gosling #61 of the Montréal Victoire celebrates her goal with teammates on the bench during the third period against the Ottawa Charge in Game One of the PWHL Walter Cup Final at Place Bell on May 14, 2026 in Laval, Quebec, Canada.

17-Across: Mantra similar to “more shots on goal”

|Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images

We're ending the month with a challenging themeless puzzle. Keep an eye out for tricky clues and fun wordplay. This week's puzzle was constructed by Greg Snitkin and Glenn Davis, and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. Greg is a dad with three small kids and a hedge fund controller from South Orange, N.J. He's been in a fantasy football league with Glenn since 2013 and spanks him every year. Glenn is a reformed sports blogger now working in the non-profit space. He and his wife live in New Jersey with two human children and two cats. He won the league in 2018, so Greg is an unreliable narrator.

Defector crosswords, launched in partnership with our friends at AVCX, run every Monday. If you’re interested in submitting a puzzle to us, you can read our guidelines HEREThe AVCX, an independent puzzles and games outlet, invites you to subscribe, or sample the goods with a two-month free trial: "With an AVCX subscription, you get access to weekly themed and themeless crosswords, minis, cryptics, and trivia, by email or in your favorite app. We have no corporate overlord, and we publish top-flight stuff only. We also pay our people fairly, always. Check us out."