AuLeaf

I came up with this one on Discord a few years ago; although I can't find the post now, so the clues are probably different. (Especially the down clues, which were originally much shorter.) Very silly, but fun to compose :)

Here's a little hunt-style crossword I came up with today! Some across clues are vowelless, and so are their answers. The shaded cells, when decoded, will provide a clue for the meta answer.

Inspired by the puzzle "Character Development" in PI Hunt 2 ( https://jacoblance.wordpress.com/2016/03/14/p-i-hunt-2/ ) by the late great Jack Lance (RIP May 1, 2023). If you ever plan on attempting this puzzle hunt, or just this puzzle in particular…