| 100% | VITAL | 5 | & 17A The —, 1906 story collection by Neil Munro featuring the mariner Para Handy |
| 100% | VITALSPARK | 10 | The —, 1906 story collection by Neil Munro featuring the mariner Para Handy |
| 39% | PARAHANDY | 9 | Skipper of steamboat the Vital Spark in stories by Neil Munro |
| 36% | EGGSBEANSAND | 12 | & 1D 1940 story collection by P G Wodehouse featuring the tales Sonny Boy and Buttercup Day |
| 33% | SQUAREEGG | 9 | The —, posthumously published 1924 story collection by Saki |
| 33% | GARDENPARTY | 11 | The —, 1922 short story collection by Katherine Mansfield |
| 33% | EBONY | 5 | & 19A The —, 1974 story collection by John Fowles |
| 33% | EBONY | 5 | & 14A The —, 1974 story collection by John Fowles |
| 33% | EBONY | 5 | & 9D The —, 1974 story collection by John Fowles |
| 33% | BOOK | 4 | "The Jungle ___," 1894 collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling featuring anthropomorphic animals |
| 32% | SONOFTHEWOLF | 12 | The —, 1900 story collection by Jack London subtitled Tales of the Far North |
| 30% | AMANOF | 6 | & 19D 1901 story collection by John Galsworthy written under the pseudonym John Sinjohn |
| 30% | PRICE | 5 | & 17A The —, 2009 volume of short stories by Peter Robinson |
| 30% | FIVECARATSOUL | 13 | 2017 short story collection by 30-Across featuring middle school-aged boys in a band (3 wds.) |
| 29% | MEANS | 5 | "What It ___ When a Man Falls from the Sky" (short story collection by Lesley Nneka Arimah) |
| 28% | REDGAUNTLET | 11 | 1824 novel by Sir Walter Scott featuring the story Wandering Willie’s Tale |
| 28% | MOWGLI | 6 | Boy raised by wolves in 1894 story collection The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling |
| 27% | INPLAINSIGHT | 12 | 2019 collection of short stories by 31-Across featuring Kate Burkholder (3 wds.) |
| 27% | NECK | 4 | "The Thing Around Your ___," 2009 short stories collection by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie |
| 27% | HERCULES | 8 | "The Labours of ___," short story collection by Agatha Christie that references Greek mythology |
| 27% | LANE | 4 | "The Ocean at the End of the ___," 2013 novel by Neil Gaiman featuring an unnamed protagonist that won a British Book Award |
| 27% | ASHENDEN | 8 | 1928 collection of stories by W Somerset Maugham subtitled The British Agent |
| 27% | EYE | 3 | Short story collection by Frank Herbert ('85) which includes "The Road to Dune", a guidebook for pilgrims to the planet Arrakis |