"New Year's Puzzle: Deciphering the Leading Clues"

Defector has released its first crossword puzzle of the new year, constructed by Matt Forest and edited by Hoang-Kim Vu. The puzzle is part of a series that appears every Monday, created in collaboration with AVCX. Matt Forest is an avid crossword creator featured in various publications, and Defector is open to submissions from other puzzle constructors who can follow their published guidelines.