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Crosswords

The Crossword, June 29: Cooler Heads (Themeless)

American musician violist Richard O’Neill performs onstage as member of Takacs Quartet during Musica Insieme at Manzoni Theater on March 16, 2026 in Bologna, Italy.

36-Down: Symbols on a violist’s sheet music

|Roberto Serra - Iguana Press/Getty Images

It's time to wrap up the month with a challenging themeless. Keep an eye out for tricky clues and fun wordplay. This puzzle was constructed by August Miller, and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. August is a vegetable and dairy farmer who recently relocated from Massachusetts to New York. He is thrilled to have his first puzzle at Defector, and hopes we can all find ways to stay cool this week.

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."

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