The Crossword, Dec. 25: Road Wins (Themeless)

We wish you a merry themeless! This week's puzzle was constructed by Kate Chin Park and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. Kate lives in Oakland, a town that loves sports more than sports apparently loves it. After over a decade working in [redacted; boring] and a detour through furniture-making, she is now an assistant puzzles editor at the New Yorker. She's also a co-director of the upcoming Westwords crossword tournament (June 23, Berkeley and online), and she would love for you to attend.

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 HERE.