The crossword can be solved as usual, subject to some occasionally tricky across clues and unlabeled down clues:
A | S | B | D | T | |||||||||||
1 | M | Y | S | T | E | R | Y | D | I | G | H | ||||
O | E | T | S | E | |||||||||||
2 | T | R | I | V | 3 | H | T | M | L | B | |||||
4 | H | E | N | I | 5 | P | E | R | I | F | O | ||||
E | A | E | 6 | P | E | S | T | E | R | E | D | ||||
S | 7 | N | E | W | H | I | R | E | S | O | Y | ||||
E | U | O | I | E | M | I | |||||||||
V | R | 8 | N | A | N | C | Y | D | R | A | W | N | |||
9 | E | A | S | E | D | K | 10 | F | E | L | T | ||||
N | I | E | I | 11 | E | T | S | H | |||||||
12 | D | A | N | B | R | O | W | N | 13 | D | E | T | E | ||
I | G | G | 14 | F | I | R | M | L | |||||||
A | H | B | O | T | I | I | |||||||||
L | O | 15 | L | E | A | F | C | R | O | W | N | B | |||
16 | S | E | M | I | F | M | R | 17 | S | I | R | ||||
M | 18 | E | N | E | R | G | Y | I | 19 | T | S | A | |||
Y | F | 20 | I | O | T | A | N | 21 | E | A | R | ||||
22 | S | T | J | O | S | E | P | H | C | 23 | R | A | Y | ||
T | R | N | U | H | C | ||||||||||
E | 24 | M | A | D | A | M | E | R | I | S | E | ||||
R | E | S | B | E | |||||||||||
25 | Y | A | R | D | 26 | S | I | X | F | L | A | G | S |
The down clues are all enumerated by "#"; replacing each # by the length of the answer (summing up multiple word answers to a single total length) yields the sequence 19 23 5 5 20 3 8 9 12 4 15 13 9 14 5, which, when converted to letters, gives the answer SWEET CHILD O MINE.