He must've used an outer grid, and inserted hidden answer components on for the letters. Shading part of the 9x12 'pumpkin grid' orange, the rest white, then adding the stem at the top.
Bobbing for apples is an old Halloween tradition. The color orange is strongly associated with Halloween. You could have easily looked it up but I’m happy to explain.
I would suggest using yellow box to mitigate guessing. Also, the final word should reveal all of the letters in the pumpkin; I guessed it without 3 letters, but the other letters remained hidden.
https://discover.hubpages.com/holidays/Noson-Galan-Gaeaf-a-Pagan-Halloween-from-Celtic-Wales
No? Just me?