Today's puzzle is from Matthew Stock. His site, Happy Little Puzzles, is the first place I had one of my puzzles published, and Matthew gave me a lot of helpful constructing advice, including helping me lay out a 17x grid that eventually became this puzzle.

I am so appreciative of experienced constructors that go out of their way to welcome new people to The Crossworld, and that is Matthew to a tee <3

Matthew says: "I'm so pumped to be part of this brilliant project! Malaika's got amazing puzzle energy, and solving these 7x's has quickly become a highlight in my solving rotation. Hope you enjoy my contribution today-- I can’t wait to see what everyone else has cooked up!"