| 100% | HAPPENED | 8 | (1/7) ["It ___ One Night"] 1934 Academy Award-winning movie starring Clark Gable...or what may be the first sentence in a romantic story |
| 52% | MET | 3 | (2/7)["When Harry ___ Sally"] 1989 rom-com starring Meg Ryan...or what may be the second sentence in a romantic story |
| 50% | APARTMENT | 9 | (5/7) Sitting in ["The ___"] 1960 rom-com starring Jack Lemmon...or what may be the fifth sentence in a romantic story |
| 50% | SOME | 4 | (6/7) Harry knew in his heart it was ["___ Kind of Wonderful"] 1987 romantic drama starring Eric Stoltz...or what may be the sixth sentence in a romantic story |
| 49% | AMERICA | 7 | (3/7)...after ["Coming to ___"] 1988 rom-com starring Eddie Murphy...or what may be the third sentence in a romantic story |
| 49% | HER | 3 | (4/7) He couldn't stop thinking about [2013 sci-fi rom-com starring Joaquin Phoenix]...or what may be the fourth sentence in a romantic story |
| 37% | ACADEMY | 7 | ___ Award for Best Actor, award won by Clark Gable for the 1934 rom-com "It Happened One Night" |
| 30% | ADAPTATION | 10 | *2002 movie in which a Susan Orlean work is described as “that sprawling New Yorker shit” . . . or what the answer to each starred clue is |
| 29% | DERN | 4 | "Just all of Laura ___" (lyric in a 2020 awards-show song celebrating "the gayest moments in ... films you might not have realized were gay") |
| 29% | OSCAR | 5 | ___ Isaac (actor in Dune and Star Wars ... or an award he might be nominated for?) |
| 28% | TEAMPLAYERS | 11 | Ones unconcerned with individual achievements ... or what both words in the answers to the starred clues are examples of |
| 27% | MISFITS | 7 | "The ___," 1961 movie starring Clark Gable in his last performance, that was released posthumously |
| 25% | ROM | 3 | ___-com (genre for the Oscar-winning "It Happened One Night") |
| 25% | LIFE | 4 | (7/7) "The holiday is a celebration of ___ and of the bonds that enrich it." |
| 25% | CUTTHEBS | 8 | "Give it to me straight" ... or, when reparsed, a hint to some chopping in the answers to the starred clues |
| 25% | SCI | 3 | ___-fi, "The Three-Body Problem" genre... or a book section you may find in the library |
| 24% | PRIZE | 5 | What may be on the line in a competition |
| 24% | BACKTOBACK | 10 | How TV episodes are binge-watched ... or how to turn each word in the answers to the starred clues into a new phrase |
| 24% | DOVE | 4 | "14a is considered to be a close relative of the pigeon or ___ (peace-loving avian)..." |
| 24% | MOUSE | 5 | It might be under the paw of a cat ... or a computer user |
| 24% | SNARE | 5 | It might be imitated with a "pf" or "kch" sound, in beatboxing |
| 24% | DOECHII | 7 | "What It Is (Block Boy)" singer who received Billboard Women in Music's Rising Star Award in 2023 |
| 24% | ARENA | 5 | A court may be in the middle of one |
| 24% | TYRE | 4 | A spare one might be kept in the boot |
| 24% | LINKINGVERB | 11 | Word such as "be" ... or a punny description of the seven-letter word that can create new action words when its letters are inserted in the breaks of the circled action words |
| 24% | HARRYSTYLES | 11 | Singer whose "As It Was" won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Pop Video in 2022: 2 wds. |
| 24% | ORME | 4 | "Him ___ - What's It Gonna Be?" (Paul Revere and the Raiders tune) |
| 24% | CORPORATEMERGER | 15 | Business acquisition ... or a hint to how the answers to the starred clues in this puzzle were formed? |
| 23% | ROGUE | 5 | "___ One: A Star Wars Story" (2016 film) |
| 23% | GARDENVARIETY | 13 | Run-of-the-mill, or what can be found in the answers to the starred clues? |