| 100% | ASTERISK | 8 | * (And by the way, her name appears in this puzzle 16 times) |
| 40% | BOX | 3 | Container (and, in a way, what you will find outlined by this year's clues related to the mega-meta) |
| 37% | TEST | 4 | Any of the eight circled words in this puzzle, and what's spelled out by their intersections |
| 36% | DOORWAY | 7 | Portal represented 20 times in this puzzle that lets you in and out of a confined space (Note: These special letters, reading left to right, row by row, will produce an apt four-word phrase) |
| 35% | STATELINES | 10 | Borders represented four times in this puzzle — both in the grid and on a map |
| 35% | DONUT | 5 | Treat whose varieties appear at the starts of four long answers and are represented a dozen times in this puzzle |
| 35% | MIDAS | 5 | Man who changed 10 letters in this puzzle by touching them (the original letters describe his daughter, to his dismay) |
| 34% | LGBTQRIGHTS | 11 | Freedoms protected by the Equality Act, and an apt title for this puzzle? |
| 32% | ABRIDGED | 8 | Shortened, and what the letters removed from eight novels in this puzzle spell out |
| 31% | HOLE | 4 | With 34- and 35-Across, something made by following the path of O's in this puzzle's grid |
| 31% | MRT | 3 | Actor whose name is appropriate to appear in this puzzle |
| 31% | TOP | 3 | With 107 Across, list that eight songs in this puzzle appeared on ... and a hint to the numbered squares that spell out a quote from Blur frontman Damon Albarn |
| 30% | OVERLOADED | 10 | Carrying way too much, and a punny description of four Across answers in this puzzle |
| 30% | GREEN | 5 | "___ Acres," fill in a color to complete the name of this sitcom featuring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor |
| 29% | COMPUTERMENU | 12 | Document listing the food and drink items in this puzzle? |
| 29% | LONGJOHNS | 9 | Winter underwear … or what appear four times in this puzzle |
| 29% | RIO | 3 | "Her name is ___ and she dances on the sand" (Duran Duran lyric) |
| 29% | CENTERSTAGE | 11 | Limelight site, and a hint to the positions of this puzzle's circled names |
| 28% | {SUGAR}CUBE | 11 | Lump in a cup of tea, and an element found three times in this puzzle |
| 28% | LITTLEKID | 9 | Child represented in six squares in this puzzle (in either of two different ways) |
| 28% | OBAMA | 5 | "By the way, I would have voted for ___ a third time if I could" (Get Out quote) |
| 28% | DIE | 3 | One of six objects hidden in this puzzle's 5×5 sections of white squares (and where you need to find the letters matching the value shown there) |
| 28% | LEAVENED | 8 | Unlike bread on Passover, and like four of the five sets of circled letters in this puzzle |
| 28% | EPS | 3 | The Time of Our Lives and She Is Coming, for Miley Cyrus |
| 28% | KUE | 3 | Letter that doesn't appear in this puzzle |
| 27% | RATEHIKE | 8 | Step taken by the Federal Reserve to manage inflation . . . and what’s illustrated by this puzzle’s circled squares |
| 27% | PIT | 3 | Area overseen by Lydia Tár (aptly, considering her last name) |
| 27% | LONGWINDED | 10 | Verbose, and what the circled letters in this puzzle literally are? |
| 27% | LAS | 3 | In Deck the Halls, you sing a lot of Fas and these |
| 27% | ESCAPEROOM | 10 | Puzzling activity, as seen four times in this puzzle? |