| 100% | COUNTDOWN | 9 | 10 to 0, the final ten seconds before New Year |
| 41% | MDIV | 4 | Year Columbus returned from his final voyage to the New World |
| 34% | MDI | 3 | Year Vespucci sailed to the New World |
| 34% | MLVI | 4 | 10 years before the Battle of Hastings |
| 34% | NYT | 3 | Pub. that predicted it would take one to 10 million years to invent a flying machine, two months before the first airplane flight |
| 33% | ONE | 3 | Final word shouted before "Happy New Year!" |
| 33% | BALLDROP | 8 | New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square commonly referred to as the ___: 2 wds. |
| 33% | COAL | 4 | Traditional Scottish New Year's gift, representing warmth for the year to come |
| 32% | AUTUMNAL | 8 | Relating to the period of the year before winter |
| 32% | POLKA | 5 | ___ dots, pattern worn on New Year's Eve in the Philippines to welcome prosperity |
| 32% | CURIE | 5 | 3.7 x 10 to the 10th power disintegrations per second, to a physicist |
| 32% | EVE | 3 | New Year's ___ (final day of the year) |
| 32% | LANTERN | 7 | The final day of the traditional Chinese New Year celebrations is also known as the Spring ___ Festival |
| 31% | COUNTDOWN | 9 | *Mark the transition from an old year to the new, maybe |
| 31% | TET | 3 | Vietnamese holiday to celebrate the New Year |
| 31% | LOSEWEIGHT | 10 | Common New Year's resolution -- as hinted at by the answers to the four starred clues |
| 31% | ING | 3 | Multinational bank that sponsored the New York City Marathon for ten years |
| 31% | EVE | 3 | The day before Lunar New Year, for one |
| 31% | EVE | 3 | Night before New Year |
| 30% | ONEBC | 5 | Just before new years? |
| 30% | AULD | 4 | "___ Lang Syne," song that's sung on New Year's Eve to bid farewell to the previous year |
| 30% | CHRISTMAS | 9 | Festivities directly before New Year |
| 30% | EVE | 3 | Night before New Year's |
| 30% | EVE | 3 | Day before New Year's |
| 30% | ERNIEWISE | 9 | On New Year's Day in 1985, ___ made Britain's second public mobile phone call, to Vodafone: 2 wds. |
| 30% | ROSEPARADE | 10 | Annual New Year's Day spectacle ... and a hint to the starts of 17-, 23-, 36- and 49-Across |
| 30% | EVE | 3 | The day before Christmas or New Year, say |
| 30% | EVE | 3 | The night before Christmas or New Year's |
| 30% | EVE | 3 | The day before Christmas and New Year's |
| 30% | AULD | 4 | Word with which to laud the new year |