| 100% | ERMA | 4 | "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" writer Bombeck |
| 96% | ERMA | 4 | Bombeck who wrote If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? |
| 90% | PITS | 4 | "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing in the ___?" (Erma Bombeck book) |
| 74% | ISA | 3 | "If Life ___ Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" (Erma Bombeck book): 2 wds. |
| 74% | ISA | 3 | Erma Bombeck's "If Life ___ Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" (2 wds.) |
| 40% | ACT | 3 | Anagram of the animal in 23a which is what Ryan Reynolds does for a living |
| 39% | METAPHOR | 8 | "Life is a bowl of cherries," e.g. |
| 39% | YOUREMISSINGOUT | 15 | "That's a lost opportunity," and what can be said to the writer of four clues in this puzzle |
| 39% | THAW | 4 | What a frozen turkey will do in the refrigerator |
| 38% | DIE | 3 | What a laptop battery will do in the long run? |
| 38% | OLYMPICMEDDLE | 13 | What the Greek gods tended to do in the lives of mortals? |
| 38% | BLED | 4 | What I always did to the car brakes after changing the fluid in those days when I was a DIY car guy (I no longer am!) |
| 37% | BONO | 4 | I am a member of U2 and was named one of the Time Persons of the Year in 2005 for my philanthropic efforts |
| 37% | EVER | 4 | "If you're ___ in a jam, here I am" (first line of the classic song "Friendship") |
| 37% | MELT | 4 | What a frozen treat will become if left in the sun |
| 37% | BUCKET | 6 | A drop in the __, a little bit of what is needed |
| 36% | EGG | 3 | Food item that will float in a bowl of water if it's old |
| 36% | RYES | 4 | Some loaves of bread … or a homophone for what they do in the oven |
| 36% | ASL | 3 | What might be seen in the corner of a TV screen: Abbr. |
| 36% | RIDINGCROP | 10 | Jockey's tool, or a description of what's been done to the starred answers |
| 36% | SNARK | 5 | "'That's a great idea' is what I would have said if I had never heard an idea before in my life," e.g. |
| 36% | SLAYINGSLOW | 11 | What Buffy might be doing at the end of a long, hard night? |
| 36% | MAKEFRIENDS | 11 | What the producers of a 10-season sitcom learned to do in kindergarten? |
| 36% | COSTUME | 7 | I am a type of "designer" responsible for all the iconic outfits in a film. Who am I? |
| 36% | EJECT | 5 | What a fighter pilot might do from the cockpit if the plane is hit |
| 36% | POE | 3 | Writer of the line "Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December" |
| 35% | TURNRED | 7 | What the focus of a 125-Across will do at its climax |
| 35% | CANID | 5 | If a felid is a member of the cat family, what is a member of the dog family called? |
| 35% | BEERANDSKITTLES | 15 | A bowl of cherries, in Chelsea |
| 35% | MARCH | 5 | What ants do in a line, which is also the third month on the calendar? |