| 100% | WOLF | 4 | "___ Hall," award-winning novel by Hilary Mantel which follows the rise of Thomas Cromwell |
| 47% | BRINGUP | 7 | "___ the Bodies," award-winning novel by Hilary Mantel which is a sequel to 23a: 2 wds. |
| 41% | SAFETY | 6 | "A Place of Greater ___," 1992 novel by Hilary Mantel which is set during the French Revolution |
| 40% | CHOKE | 5 | 2001 novel by Chuck Palahniuk which follows the story of a con man, Victor |
| 39% | GHOST | 5 | "Giving Up the ___," 2003 memoir by Hilary Mantel which won the MIND Book of the Year prize |
| 38% | DIARY | 5 | 2003 modern horror novel by Chuck Palahniuk which follows the story of Misty Wilmot |
| 37% | WOLF | 4 | "___ Hall" (first novel in Hilary Mantel's Thomas Cromwell series) |
| 37% | INVISIBLE | 9 | "___ Monsters," 1999 novel by Chuck Palahniuk which follows the story of a former model |
| 36% | WOLFHALL | 8 | Epic novel about Thomas Cromwell by Hilary Mantel |
| 35% | LIGHT | 5 | "The Mirror and the ___," 2020 novel by Hilary Mantel which is a sequel to 44a |
| 34% | INVISIBLEMAN | 12 | Novel written by Ralph Waldo Ellison (birthday today) which won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1953: 2 wds. |
| 34% | HALL | 4 | "Wolf ___" (Booker Prize-winning novel by Hilary Mantel) |
| 33% | WOLFHALL | 8 | 2009 novel by the late Hilary Mantel |
| 33% | NEVERLET | 8 | "___ Me Go," 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro for which he won the ALA Alex Award and which was also adapted into a movie: 2 wds. |
| 33% | EVENING | 7 | "The Discomfort of ___," novel by Marieke Lucas Rijneveld which won the International Booker Prize 2020 |
| 33% | PRIZES | 6 | Awards won by best books of the years, e.g. Orange |
| 32% | GIVE | 4 | "___ the Dark My Love," dark fantasy novel by Beth Revis which follows the story of a young alchemist |
| 32% | POSTCARDS | 9 | Novel by 29-Across that won the 1992 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction |
| 32% | BESTPLAY | 8 | Award won by "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time" |
| 32% | CUJO | 4 | 1981 novel by Stephen King that won the British Fantasy Award |
| 32% | AMERICANAH | 10 | Novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie that won the 2013 National Book Critics Circle Award |
| 31% | ONTHEROADAGAIN | 14 | Song by 30-Across/33-Across that won a Grammy Award for Best Country Song and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (4 wds.) |
| 31% | BESTMUSICAL | 11 | Tony Award won by the starred answers in the years of their clues |
| 31% | FLUDD | 5 | 1989 novel by Hilary Mantel |
| 31% | WOLFHALL | 8 | 2009 novel by Hilary Mantel |
| 31% | THEUNCONSOLED | 13 | 1995 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro for which he won the Cheltenham Prize: 2 wds. |
| 31% | THEGOOD | 7 | & 19A 1931 novel by Pearl Buck that won the Pulitzer Prize the following year |
| 31% | LANE | 4 | "The Ocean at the End of the ___," 2013 novel by Neil Gaiman featuring an unnamed protagonist that won a British Book Award |