| 100% | DARKEN | 6 | “Ashes of laughter, the ghost is clear / Why do the best things always disappear / Like Ophelia / Please ___ my door”: The Band |
| 29% | ROBERTALTMAN | 12 | Five-time Best Director nominee who said "All of the best things in my films are mistakes" |
| 27% | NIRVANA | 7 | Rock band whose performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on SNL is considered one of the best on the show |
| 25% | ALTRUISM | 8 | The act of selflessly doing good things for others |
| 25% | DAYS | 4 | "... those were the best ___ of my life..." |
| 25% | STARTOVER | 9 | It may be the best thing to do when you're stuck |
| 25% | HAS | 3 | "This ___ been the best day of my life!" |
| 24% | GUNSNROSES | 10 | Band whose "Appetite for Destruction" was the best-selling debut album of all time |
| 24% | GROUCHOMARX | 11 | "Die, my dear? Why, that's the last thing I'll do!" |
| 24% | MTA | 3 | "Stand clear of the closing doors please" org. |
| 24% | LOLLING | 7 | What the tongue of Marnie the Shih Tzu, Instagram sensation, was always doing |
| 23% | BENSONBOONE | 11 | Singer whose "Beautiful Things" was the best-selling global single of 2024: 2 wds. |
| 23% | BACKSTREETBOYS | 14 | Five-member band whose "Millennium" was the best-selling album of 1999 (2 wds.) |
| 23% | EVADES | 6 | Gives the slip to the good guys, much like Joaquin Guzman has done a couple of times |
| 23% | ALL | 3 | "This is to a girl who got into my head with ___ the pretty things she did" |
| 23% | ONE | 3 | "___ of these things is not like the others" (lyric heard on "Sesame Street") |
| 22% | MADE | 4 | "___ in Heaven," one of Queen's best selling albums that was the band's final studio album |
| 22% | MADDEN | 6 | Benji and Joel ___, twin brothers who are part of the rock band Good Charlotte |
| 22% | MELT | 4 | Disappear like the Wicked Witch of the West |
| 22% | SPIKELEE | 8 | Director of Do the Right Thing |
| 22% | HOUSESTYLE | 10 | Publication's unique way of doing things ... or what each of the circled strings is? |
| 22% | HEARTBREAKERS | 13 | Tom Petty & the ___, band whose performance of "Honey Bee" on SNL is considered one of the best on the show |
| 22% | EVIL | 4 | "Most of the ___ in this world is done by people with good intentions": T.S. Eliot |
| 21% | PRACTICE | 8 | The way things are done |
| 21% | TIGHT | 5 | Like the best of friends |
| 21% | EMBODY | 6 | Be the best example of |
| 21% | OPENMARKET | 10 | Where things are freely bought and sold ... and what the starts of 17-, 23-, 36- and 46-Across do? |
| 21% | BACKORDERED | 11 | Like goods that are temporarily out of stock ... or a hint, alphabetically, to the answers to the starred clues |
| 21% | ELFIN | 5 | Like Will Ferrell, in the best Christmas movie |
| 21% | OMISSION | 8 | Sin of ___ (failure to do the right thing) |