The most obvious themes in this puzzle are A Christmas Carol and pirates. Besides appearing in the flavor text, there are six clues explicitly referring to each theme. They are:
- 8-A) Dickens’ first ghost
- 24-A) Like a certain dodger in another Dickens story
- 35-A) Snake, like one left to guard pirate treasure
- 36-A) Common wood in a pirate ship
- 76-A) Counterpart of northing on a pirate map
- 83-A) Any of several characters in Treasure Island
- 1-D) Captain Flint’s ship, and others of the same name
- 8-D) Pirates might sing about fifteen of them
- 23-D) Irregular gait, such as Tiny Tim’s
- 36-D) The Ghost of Christmas ____
- 63-D) Mr. Scrooge
- 85-D) “Tiny” Cratchit child
Highlighting these answers in the completed reveals that there are six locations where a pirate answer and a Christmas Carol answer cross:
Reading the intersections of these pairs of answers from top to bottom reveals the answer MUPPET. Solvers are reminded of the existence of both The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island.