I don't aim for any particular difficulty level. Actually I always try to make them easier than they are. Also I schedule the puzzles days in advance, so this wasn't written the day it was published.
"___ Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe" (George Eliot novel)
8A
Decree
9A
Test of royalty?
Down
1D
National flower of the United States
2D
"Metamorphoses" poet (no, not the novel by Kafka about the giant bug)
3D
National flower of the Netherlands (which is much more strongly associated with the Netherlands than 1-Down1DNational flower of the United States[----] is with the United States)