| 100% | HEAD | 4 | *Top of the body ... or a word made by changing one letter of 19a |
| 83% | DEAL | 4 | *Pass out the cards ... or a word made by changing one letter of 25a |
| 76% | HEAT | 4 | *Furnace output ... or a word made by changing one letter of 36a |
| 75% | MEAN | 4 | *Far from friendly ... or a word made by changing one letter of 32a |
| 75% | MEAT | 4 | *Vegetarian's no-no ... or a word made by changing one letter of 34a |
| 74% | MEAL | 4 | *Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, e.g. ... or a word made by changing one letter of 27a |
| 68% | DEAD | 4 | *Out of juice, as a phone ... or a word made by changing one letter of 23a |
| 47% | ACRONYM | 7 | Word formed by the first letters of a series of words |
| 45% | WANNABET | 8 | "Care to wager?" ... and a question answered, one way or the other, by the first words of the answers to starred clues |
| 43% | FLIPFLOPPING | 12 | Switching positions, and a phrase spelled by the first letters of 12 words that have switched positions |
| 43% | EBWHITE | 7 | Author whose last name's first letter, followed by the two initials that precede his last name, form a word in one of his most famous titles |
| 43% | QUEUE | 5 | Waiting line at the DMV... or a word that sounds like the first letter of 25a |
| 43% | REWRITE | 7 | Change the wording of a book or speech |
| 42% | LAKE | 4 | "___ of Fire," song covered by Nirvana ... or a small water body where one might go fishing |
| 42% | RINSECYCLE | 10 | Part of washing ... or what's exhibited by the circled letters from top to bottom |
| 42% | ANAGRAM | 7 | A word or phrase that can be formed using the letters of another word |
| 42% | TANLINE | 7 | One might trace the edge of a T-shirt sleeve or a bikini top |
| 42% | TOWN | 4 | Word that can follow Hades or Urine to make the title of a musical |
| 42% | INNER | 5 | Private ... or a hint to the words spelled by the circled letters |
| 42% | AERIE | 5 | Nest spelled by changing one letter of "eerie" |
| 41% | PARTYDOWN | 9 | Really revel ... or a hint to the words formed by the circled letters |
| 41% | SPREADTHEWEALTH | 15 | Redistributionist's catchphrase ... or a hint to the words formed by the circled letters |
| 41% | ANAGRAM | 7 | Word formed by rearranging the letters of another |
| 41% | MUD | 3 | Kind of pie, or change a letter in 18d to get the answer |
| 40% | ANAGRAM | 7 | Word made out of the letters of another word |
| 40% | ANAGRAM | 7 | A word made by rearranging other word's letters |
| 40% | OWE | 3 | Word represented by the middle letter of 22-Down |
| 40% | BRAINSTORM | 10 | Session with a volley of ideas, or word that starts with the body's grey matter part |
| 39% | ROOF | 4 | Top of the mouth, or top of a house |
| 39% | SNORT | 5 | Pig's sound, or a pig's body part if you change the fourth letter to a U |