Today's puzzle is from Ian! If the word at 4-down is unfamiliar to you, you can read more about it here, after solving. Ian has more puzzles on his site, The Island of Misfit Puzzles.

Ian says: "Huge, huge thanks to Malaika for letting unknowns such as myself contribute to this project, and on my birthday no less. That's part of what makes her project so awesome: anyone can join in the fun! We're spoiled for choice with indie crosswords these days, but if you want to follow one more middling constructor as they try to improve, feel free to check out my website linked above. I post mini puzzles daily (5x5 M-F, 7x7 on Sat, 11x11 on Sun) for as long as I can keep that up, and larger puzzles sporadically."