| 100% | ADULTERY | 8 | "The application of democracy to love," per H. L. Mencken |
| 41% | BOOBOISIE | 9 | Ignorant middle class, per H. L. Mencken |
| 38% | TOCHERISH | 9 | To love and __, part of the wedding vows |
| 36% | MARTINI | 7 | "The only American invention as perfect as a sonnet," per H. L. Mencken |
| 35% | WOO | 3 | Try to win the love of |
| 35% | EROS | 4 | God of love, to the Greeks |
| 35% | CYNIC | 5 | "A man who, when he smells flowers, looks around for a coffin," per H. L. Mencken |
| 35% | MENCKEN | 7 | H L —, Baltimore-born writer; co-founder of magazine The American Mercury in 1924 |
| 35% | MYERS | 5 | L H —, author of novels The Orissers and Strange Glory |
| 34% | PIECES | 6 | "I love meeces to __", catchphrase of Jinx the cat |
| 34% | BAR | 3 | Unlikely place to find the love of your life |
| 34% | END | 3 | Leonard Cohen's "Dance Me to the ___ of Love" |
| 34% | EROS | 4 | The Greek god of love, who is the counterpart to 27-Across |
| 33% | AFRICA | 6 | Home to roughly seventeen per cent of the world’s population |
| 33% | TITHE | 5 | Give ten per cent of one’s income to the church |
| 32% | BATES | 5 | H E —, author of novels Love for Lydia and Fair Stood the Wind for France |
| 32% | PETPROJECTS | 11 | Labors of love, perhaps, and what the answers to the starred clues are? |
| 32% | ART | 3 | What we have "in order not to die of the truth," per Nietzsche |
| 32% | OPERA | 5 | Of all the noises known to man, it is the most expensive, per an old quip |
| 32% | MUSIC | 5 | "The food of love," per Shakespeare |
| 32% | DONNA | 5 | ___ Summer, "Love to Love You Baby" artist who became known as the "Queen of Disco" |
| 31% | PARIS | 5 | "I Love ___," song by Cole Porter that refers to the French "City of Love" |
| 31% | THEATRE | 7 | A series of "insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster," per Tom Stoppard |
| 31% | PIPERS | 6 | "On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, eleven ___ piping ..." |
| 31% | GOLD | 4 | "On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, five ___ rings..." |
| 31% | TWO | 3 | "On the second day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, ___ turtle doves..." |
| 31% | DRUMMERS | 8 | "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, twelve ___ drumming..." |
| 31% | HENS | 4 | "On the third day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, three French ___..." |
| 31% | PIPERS | 6 | "On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true love gave to me, eleven ___ piping ..." |
| 31% | BIRDS | 5 | "On the fourth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me, four calling ___..." |