| 100% | MEAT | 4 | *Vegetarian's no-no ... or a word made by changing one letter of 34a |
| 74% | HEAT | 4 | *Furnace output ... or a word made by changing one letter of 36a |
| 73% | MEAN | 4 | *Far from friendly ... or a word made by changing one letter of 32a |
| 73% | HEAD | 4 | *Top of the body ... or a word made by changing one letter of 19a |
| 73% | DEAL | 4 | *Pass out the cards ... or a word made by changing one letter of 25a |
| 72% | DEAD | 4 | *Out of juice, as a phone ... or a word made by changing one letter of 23a |
| 72% | MEAL | 4 | *Breakfast, lunch, or dinner, e.g. ... or a word made by changing one letter of 27a |
| 43% | ANAGRAM | 7 | A word made by rearranging other word's letters |
| 41% | AERIE | 5 | Nest spelled by changing one letter of "eerie" |
| 39% | ACRONYM | 7 | Word formed by the first letters of a series of words |
| 38% | 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 |
| 38% | DAYBREAK | 8 | First light ... or a phenomenon suggested by this puzzle's seven sets of circled letters? |
| 38% | BRADS | 5 | Fasteners ... or, if you change the fourth letter to an S, what the fasteners might be made of |
| 37% | WANNABET | 8 | "Care to wager?" ... and a question answered, one way or the other, by the first words of the answers to starred clues |
| 36% | SPREADTHEWEALTH | 15 | Redistributionist's catchphrase ... or a hint to the words formed by the circled letters |
| 36% | DEAR | 4 | *Letter opener ... or a term of endearment for one's partner |
| 36% | MINOR | 5 | Underage one ... or a word that means "area of academic focus" |
| 35% | HOME | 4 | There's no place like it ... or a word that can precede either half of the answer to each starred clue |
| 35% | FLIPFLOPPING | 12 | Switching positions, and a phrase spelled by the first letters of 12 words that have switched positions |
| 35% | CBS | 3 | Network that had a logo of a spotlight illuminating letters, but changed in '51 to one inspired by a Pennsylvania Dutch hex sign |
| 35% | SKETCHER | 8 | One who makes a rough drawing of an object or a scene |
| 34% | REWRITE | 7 | Change the wording of a book or speech |
| 34% | LAKE | 4 | "___ of Fire," song covered by Nirvana ... or a small water body where one might go fishing |
| 34% | QUEUE | 5 | Waiting line at the DMV... or a word that sounds like the first letter of 25a |
| 34% | ANAGRAM | 7 | A word or phrase that can be formed using the letters of another word |
| 34% | TOWN | 4 | Word that can follow Hades or Urine to make the title of a musical |
| 34% | ELIAS | 5 | Real name that becomes a fake one by changing its first letter |
| 34% | INNER | 5 | Private ... or a hint to the words spelled by the circled letters |
| 33% | COMIC | 5 | Word that can come before book or strip, or a nickname of WWI's Sopwith Camel biplane, or one who will merely stand-up |
| 33% | PARTYDOWN | 9 | Really revel ... or a hint to the words formed by the circled letters |