Note: There are two unchecked squares in the grid which goes against standard crossword convention. Please disregard as they do not have anything to do with the meta.
Hint #1: Despite being unofficially nicknamed the "Rainbow State," the meta answer is not Hawaii
Hint #2: Did you read Liz Gorski's bio on Crossword Nation mentioned in 7-Across?
Hint #3: "An innovator of new puzzle forms, Ms. Gorski invented the popular "Connect-The-Dots" crossword that debuted in The New York Times (December 2003)"
Hint #4: The letter distribution in this puzzle is unusual... some letters appear a lot and some appear only once or not at all
Hint #5: There is a mnemonic for remembering the colors of the rainbow in order
Hint #6: Instead of connecting the dots in numerical (1, 2, 3) or alphabetical (A, B, C) order, go ahead and chase the rainbow!
Hint #7: If you don't recognize the shape after connecting the letters, a map of the USA might be useful