| 100% | DAYS | 4 | "... those were the best ___ of my life..." |
| 76% | HAS | 3 | "This ___ been the best day of my life!" |
| 66% | DRIVINGMISSDAISY | 16 | "Floral" film that was the Best Picture of 1989 |
| 65% | SPARE | 5 | Royal memoir that was the best-selling nonfiction book of 2023 |
| 65% | STEVIE | 6 | "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" singer Wonder |
| 63% | KAMIKAZE | 8 | Album by 37-Across that was the best-selling hip-hop album of 2018 |
| 63% | PYGMALION | 9 | Shaw play that is the basis of My Fair Lady |
| 61% | GAEA | 4 | Greek primordial deity that was the ancestral mother of all life (var.) |
| 60% | DIANA | 5 | 1980 eponymous disco-influenced studio album by singer Ross that is the best-selling album of her career |
| 59% | PRIME | 5 | The best years of your life, and a word that rhymes with "time" |
| 59% | YOU | 3 | Stevie Wonder's "___ Are the Sunshine of My Life" |
| 59% | MITHRIL | 7 | Fictional metal that was the material for Frodo's shirt of mail that saves his life |
| 58% | LEAST | 5 | "That is the ___ of my worries!" |
| 57% | INVICTUS | 8 | Poem that ends "I am the captain of my soul" |
| 57% | OMEN | 4 | Sign of the future that can be good or bad |
| 56% | SOFARASIKNOW | 12 | "To the best of my information . . ." |
| 56% | IBELIEVE | 8 | "To the best of my recollection ..." |
| 56% | IBELIEVESO | 10 | "To the best of my knowledge" |
| 56% | ITHINK | 6 | "To the best of my knowledge" |
| 56% | RAY | 3 | 2004 musical starring Jamie Foxx that is based on the life of soul musician Charles |
| 56% | FUNNY | 5 | "___ Girl," 1968 musical starring Barbra Streisand that is based on the life of Fanny Brice |
| 56% | GLORY | 5 | "Bound for ___," 1976 musical starring David Carradine that is based on the life of Woody Guthrie |
| 55% | EMBODY | 6 | Be the best example of |
| 55% | AUTOBIOGRAPHY | 13 | The story of my life? |
| 55% | ESCORT | 6 | Ford model that was the direct replacement of the Pinto in 1981 and became the best selling car in the US |
| 55% | SMILELINES | 10 | Wrinkles that might be the result of a joyful life |
| 55% | HANNIBAL | 8 | 2001 movie that was a sequel to the 1991 Best Picture winner "The Silence of the Lambs" |
| 55% | MINGDYNASTY | 11 | Group that was in power when the best-preserved form of this puzzle's landmark was built |
| 55% | THEEVENINGSTAR | 14 | 1996 movie that was a sequel to the 1983 Best Picture winner "Terms of Endearment": 3 wds. |
| 55% | PART | 4 | "Discretion is the better ___ of valor" |