The theme of this puzzle is the Hammer Brothers, recurring Mario-game villains.
Each crossword-style clue solves to a single word that is one letter off from the name of a famous set of brothers. Taking the changed letter from the answers in the given order yields the clue phrase TOMMIE'S HAMMERIN' BRO, which clues the solution: HANK AARON, whose nickname is "The Hammer".
This is the first of several puzzles in the Hunt that were originally proposed as metapuzzles and were repurposed into regular puzzles after not getting selected as metas.
TINGLING: Prickling sensation OVERLY: Excessively BROOMS: Curling implements WARMER: Nearer, in a children's game SMITHERS: Burns' admirer WEIGHT: Burden ISLES: Shivering, e.g. JONAH: Book read on Yom Kippur MARIA: Name of the wind, in song MAYANS: 2012 prophets MARKER: Gates McFadden vehicle GRIME: Dirt BLURS: Makes hazy COIN: Mystery hunt prize MANX: Recently revived Celtic language BOOBIE: #1 Cavalier nickname TAPPER: Classic bartending game CHOPS: Popular pork cuts RINGLING TINGLING T EVERLY OVERLY O BROOKS BROOMS M WARNER WARMER M SMOTHERS SMITHERS I WRIGHT WEIGHT E ISLEY ISLES S JONAS JONAH H MARIO MARIA A WAYANS MAYANS M PARKER MARKER M GRIMM GRIME E BLUES BLURS R COEN COIN I MARX MANX N DOOBIE BOOBIE B TAPPET TAPPER R CHAPS CHOPS O