| 100% | OPES | 4 | “When the first bird sings and the first bud ___”: Paul Laurence Dunbar |
| 37% | ERE | 3 | "___ sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes": Paul Laurence Dunbar |
| 37% | MAYAANGELOU | 11 | "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," 18-Across, and 31-Across writer whose image appears on the first coin in the American Women Quarters series (2 wds.) |
| 36% | ALUMNI | 6 | Zora Neale Hurston and Paul Laurence Dunbar vis-a-vis Howard University |
| 34% | MAYAANGELOU | 11 | Civil rights icon and poet who wrote "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings": 2 wds. |
| 32% | ATSIX | 5 | When the first dogwatch ends |
| 31% | ERE | 3 | "___ Sleep Comes Down to Soothe the Weary Eyes" (Paul Laurence Dunbar poem) |
| 31% | FOREIGNLANGUAGE | 15 | What's left when you remove the first and last letters of the answers to starred clues |
| 31% | PALINDROMES | 11 | What the answers to the starred clues all are when their first and last letters are removed |
| 31% | ALPHABET | 8 | Series whose first seven members are sung to the starts of 18-, 26-, 41- and 54-Across |
| 31% | NINE | 4 | When the first "Peanuts" comic appeared |
| 31% | ACTI | 4 | When the first characters are introduced |
| 31% | TEASE | 5 | The first to relax and ridicule |
| 31% | SONS | 4 | The first were Cain and Abel |
| 31% | MAKECONCESSIONS | 15 | Compromise, or what solvers do when filling in the first words of 17-, 23-, 40-, and 51-Across? |
| 31% | ANKA | 4 | Paul who sang with Sam Cooke and Neil Sedaka on the 1963 album "3 Great Guys" |
| 30% | NEW | 3 | With 65- and 66-Across, when to sing the song in the circled squares |
| 30% | PARTRIDGE | 9 | Bird given on the first day of Christmas |
| 30% | WHY | 3 | "I Know ___ the Caged Bird Sings" |
| 30% | BEES | 4 | The birds and the ___ |
| 30% | GETHAPPY | 8 | Song sung by Judy Garland in "Summer Stock," and what the first halves of the starred answers can all do |
| 30% | SYCAMORE | 8 | Birds singing in the __ tree; dream a little dream |
| 29% | FACTSOFLIFE | 11 | The birds and the bees |
| 29% | ASECONDBASEBUMP | 15 | The annoying unevenness you always trip over when you're trying to steal from first, and the fourth official gets you every time |
| 29% | ACTI | 4 | When the curtain first opens at the theater: 2 wds. |
| 29% | WOULDNT | 7 | First word sung on the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" album |
| 29% | ATSIX | 5 | When one hand's up and the other's down |
| 29% | ATSIX | 5 | When a hand's up and the other's down |
| 29% | ANGELOU | 7 | "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" memoirist |
| 29% | IKNOW | 5 | “___ Why the Caged Bird Sings” (Maya Angelou autobiography) |