Today's puzzle was constructed by
Rachel! Please please take a minute to check out the cause she talks about below!
"I'm so excited to make my 7xwords debut with this puzzle that was *shockingly* challenging to create! "It's only 7x7!" they said. "It'll be so simple!" they said. WRONG. Turns out that when only 6 of those 49 squares are black squares, and they're only in the corners, there is a lot that can go wrong! I'm happy with the way this puzzle turned out, though I'm (retroactively) bummed about the 1-Across thing, so I updated the clue to reflect my bummed-ness (literally; see clue).
ALSO while I have you here, I want to plug the charity pack "These Puzzles Fund Abortion" that I edited to benefit the Baltimore Abortion Fund. You can donate
here to receive 14 puzzles by a bunch of constructors previously featured on 7xwords, including Brooke Husic, Matthew Stock, Erik Agard, Chris Piuma, Rebecca Goldstein, and more!"