| 100% | APPAL | 5 | ___Cart, established in 1981, provider of many free bus routes in the Boone area and Watauga County in North Carolina |
| 31% | WICKLOW | 7 | County —, area in Leinster, Republic of Ireland, housing the towns Bray and Greystones |
| 26% | BROADS | 6 | The —, large area of protected wetland in Norfolk and Suffolk |
| 26% | TIKTOK | 6 | Most downloaded app of 2018 and 2019 in the App Store |
| 26% | ETAL | 4 | And more of the same, in brief |
| 26% | JACKINTHEBOXES | 14 | Some surprises ... and what you'll find in the circled areas of this puzzle |
| 26% | ANIMAL | 6 | One of many seen in the board games Ark Nova and New York Zoo |
| 26% | SMITH | 5 | Most common surname in the U.S. (ahead of Johnson and Williams) |
| 26% | DRAKEMAYE | 9 | North Carolina quarterback and 2022 ACC Player of the Year who was selected by the New England Patriots as the third overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft (2 wds.) |
| 26% | ALBEMARLE | 9 | & 18D Inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in NE North Carolina |
| 26% | WEXFORD | 7 | Irish town and county in the SE of the country |
| 26% | MOSSY | 5 | Green and fuzzy, like the north side of many trees |
| 26% | ARAB | 4 | ___ Spring (series of uprisings in the Mideast and North Africa) |
| 26% | DUTCHELM | 8 | Disease of trees, most obvious in the 60s and 70s |
| 26% | COLA | 4 | One way to check news and events in Richland and Lexington counties in South Carolina is in the "___ Daily" |
| 25% | ARAB | 4 | ___ League (group of 22 nations in the Mideast and North Africa) |
| 25% | BOONE | 5 | Name of eight counties in the central and eastern U.S. |
| 25% | OPRAH | 5 | ___ Winfrey, icon and media mogul with one of the most popular talk shows in the world |
| 25% | MUGSHOT | 7 | One of many released by the Fulton County Jail in late August |
| 25% | SEMILLON | 8 | White wine grape grown in Australia and the Bordeaux area of France |
| 25% | ESCORT | 6 | Ford model that was the direct replacement of the Pinto in 1981 and became the best selling car in the US |
| 25% | EWES | 4 | Maa and most of the flock in "Babe" |
| 25% | STOCK | 5 | Word with more than 20 definitions in the Merriam-Webster dictionary ... and the theme of this puzzle |
| 25% | AXHOLME | 7 | Isle of —, flat lowland area in North Lincolnshire west of the River Trent |
| 25% | LOS | 3 | First word in the name of the U.S.'s most populous county |
| 25% | PENHALL | 7 | Bruce —, California-born winner of the World Speedway Championship in 1981 and 1982 |
| 25% | DYFED | 5 | Largest in area of the preserved counties of Wales |
| 24% | HUNT | 4 | Helen who was the Governor of North Carolina in Fox's "Shots Fired" (2017) |
| 24% | LAPP | 4 | Member of a nomadic people living chiefly in north Scandinavia and the Kola Peninsula |
| 24% | FOG | 3 | "House of Sand and ___" (Ben Kingsley film set in the San Francisco Bay Area) |