| 100% | OPERA | 5 | "Porgy and Bess" or "Madame Butterfly," for example |
| 49% | TITLE | 5 | Madame or Monsignor, for example |
| 49% | INSECT | 6 | Butterfly or wasp, for example |
| 49% | OPERA | 5 | "Porgy and Bess" or "The Magic Flute" |
| 49% | OPERA | 5 | "Porgy and Bess," for one |
| 47% | METALBAND | 9 | Wedding ring, for example ... or a hint to 20-, 29-, and 49-Across? |
| 46% | OPERA | 5 | ''Porgy and Bess,'' for one |
| 45% | HOMONYMS | 8 | Bow and bow or tear and tear, for example |
| 45% | SWAM | 4 | Did the butterfly or backstroke, for example |
| 45% | SWIM | 4 | Do the butterfly or backstroke, for example |
| 42% | OPERA | 5 | "Madama Butterfly" or "Carmen," for example |
| 42% | OPERA | 5 | "Carmen" or "Porgy and Bess" |
| 41% | DANDRIDGE | 9 | Dorothy __, star of Porgy and Bess, Carmen Jones |
| 40% | STIM | 4 | Pace or rock back and forth, for example |
| 40% | REINDEER | 8 | For example Comet, Dancer, Prancer and Vixen |
| 40% | PIRATES | 7 | For example, Captains Jack Sparrow and Hook |
| 40% | GERSHWIN | 8 | Surname of "Porgy and Bess" songwriting brothers George and Ira, for whom a Broadway theater is named |
| 40% | OPERA | 5 | ''Carmen'' or ''Porgy and Bess'' |
| 39% | MIGRATOR | 8 | Monarch butterfly, for example |
| 39% | NOISE | 5 | For example, a car horn or a dog barking |
| 39% | TRANSPORT | 9 | Public __; for example, buses, trains and trams |
| 39% | NESS | 4 | “Rap orgies with Porgy and Bess / Capture your bounty like Eliot ___”: Fugees |
| 37% | ARIA | 4 | Song from "Madama Butterfly," for example |
| 37% | SAMMYDAVISJR | 12 | Singer-actor whose roles included Sportin' Life in 1959 film musical Porgy and Bess |
| 37% | FISH | 4 | Porgy or bass, for one |
| 37% | CLARA | 5 | "Porgy and Bess" soprano |
| 37% | AINT | 4 | ''Porgy and Bess'' contraction |
| 37% | SHRUB | 5 | Butterfly bush, for example |
| 37% | TOXICASSET | 10 | Subprime mortgage, for example, or a reason for changing hands? |
| 37% | OPERA | 5 | "Dido and Aeneas," for an early English example |