Today's puzzle is from Rebecca and Ariela! Happy solving!

Rebecca says: "Thrilled be back at 7xwords with a puzzle I co-constructed with my wife, Ariela. We started with the intersection of 9D and 15A, and I kinda think the black squares match that thematic content. I'll let her share more about the construction process."

Ariela says: "Although this puzzle is full of faves, Rebecca said that [Something I like], [Something else I like], and [More stuff I like] are not appropriate crossword clues, so we wrote some other ones. Enjoy!"