The answer?
It's an animal.
If you've filled in the crossword part correctly, that ought to be enough of a clue. [ETA: cross-posted with Slope, whose clue is even more generous!]
Was a bloody difficult one today, I grant you. 7a is a word I'm not familiar with, and some of the others are rather tenuous synonyms.
OTHER
CRAVE
COZEN
UPEND
RESTS
ZEBRA