So glad Malaika shared this fun lil 9x with me to publish here — I'll definitely be emulating her layout in future little puzzles, and any crossword that features 16-Across is a winner in my book! Give her a follow on Twitter for more bite-sized puzzles in your feed.
Happy solving,
-Matthew
From Malaika: "Cold emailing a stranger and asking them to publish your work is very scary and Matthew was awesome at making that process completely not scary. I'm super grateful he was willing to chat with me about this puzzle and future puzzles! I've only been constructing for two months now and am still learning a lot about developing themes and laying out grids.
This mini came about when I saw 16A and simply had to put it in a puzzle. I post minis frequently (though not on any regular schedule) on my Twitter and over on Crosshare, if you'd like to see more!"