I recently had a version of this puzzle turned down by a publication, which I was pretty bummed about. I knew from there I wanted to publish it here, and I'm so glad I decided to consult Brooke before doing so!
With her invaluable help and encouragement, I turned this one puzzle into two: a version for the casual solvers, and a (much) trickier version for the extreme puzzleheads (crossnerds™?).
It's a joy to do something fun with this puzzle that I wouldn't have been able to do in a non-indie outlet, and, thanks to Brooke's incisive, thorough and thoughtful editing, it's published here as a far better puzzle than it was when I first sent it off for submission.
Whichever version you decide to tackle, I hope you enjoy it!
-Matthew
From Brooke: "I believe the puzzle speaks for itself, and nevertheless it's all Matthew. But I would like to take this space to shout out the incredible behind-the-scenes mentorship Matthew's contributing to the community right now, including through the Crossword Puzzle Collaboration Directory."
Follow Brooke on twitter at @xandraladee and @brookehus.