| 100% | ALISON | 6 | ___ Hargreaves, first woman to complete a solo climb of Everest, 1995 |
| 40% | CARDIB | 6 | First woman to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album as a solo artist |
| 39% | CARDIB | 6 | First woman to win a Grammy for Best Rap Album as a solo artist (2 wds.) |
| 38% | RETTON | 6 | First woman to appear on the front of a Wheaties box |
| 38% | CURIE | 5 | Surname of the first woman to win a Nobel prize |
| 37% | MARIE | 5 | First name of the first woman to win a Nobel Prize |
| 36% | LAURA | 5 | ___ Bassi, first woman to earn a doctorate in science (University of Bologna, 1732) |
| 35% | ANNE | 4 | Hall of Famer Donovan, first woman to coach a WNBA championship team |
| 35% | PELOSI | 6 | First woman to be Speaker of the House |
| 35% | KATHRYNBIGELOW | 14 | First woman to win a Best Director Oscar |
| 34% | PANAMA | 6 | First airline to complete a round-the-world flight |
| 34% | ITO | 3 | First woman to land a triple axel in competition |
| 34% | MELISSAARNOT | 12 | Mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest six times and became the first woman to survive a descent without supplemental oxygen: 2 wds. |
| 34% | LADYNANCYASTOR | 14 | First woman to sit in the British House of Commons |
| 34% | STTERESA | 8 | First woman to be named Doctor of the Church, briefly |
| 34% | LISALESLIE | 10 | First woman to dunk in a WNBA game: 2 wds. |
| 34% | EARHART | 7 | Amelia, first woman to fly across Atlantic solo |
| 33% | ALYSSANAKKEN | 12 | First woman to coach on the field of a Major League Baseball game, for the San Francisco Giants in 2020: 2 wds. |
| 33% | AMELIAEARHART | 13 | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean: 2 wds. |
| 33% | AMELIAEARHART | 13 | First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (2 wds.) |
| 33% | ITO | 3 | First woman to land a triple axel in a major competition |
| 33% | STTERESA | 8 | First woman to be made doctor of the Roman Catholic Church |
| 33% | EVADE | 5 | Avoid first woman to have a key |
| 33% | IDALUPINO | 9 | First woman to direct a film noir (1953's "The Hitch-Hiker") |
| 33% | SARAHTHOMAS | 11 | First woman to work as a full-time NFL official (2 wds.) |
| 33% | SLANT | 5 | Incline (and a hint to the location in this completed puzzle of the first line of 9- & 59-Across) |
| 33% | ANN | 3 | Explorer Bancroft who was the first woman to complete an expedition to the North Pole |
| 33% | LORNASIMPSON | 12 | "Projects 23" photographer who was the first African-American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (2 wds.) |
| 32% | JUNKO | 5 | ___ Tabei, Japanese mountaineer and the first woman to scale Mount Everest |