| 100% | HOMEALONE | 9 | 1990 film that Roger Ebert called "so implausible that it makes it hard for us to really care about the plight of the kid" |
| 29% | ROBINDIANGELO | 13 | Writer of the bestseller "White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism" (2 wds.) |
| 28% | RBG | 3 | Initials of the person who said "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you" |
| 28% | JUSTICEGINSBURG | 15 | Subject of this puzzle, who once said "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you" |
| 24% | EONS | 4 | Stretches of time that it's really hard to get your head around |
| 24% | HAMMEROUTAWIN | 13 | Work really hard for victory ... and a hint to the start of 20-, 31- and 39-Across |
| 24% | YEMEN | 5 | Country home to Shibam, called the Manhattan of the Desert for its multistory mud dwellings |
| 23% | KING | 4 | Checker that makes it to the other side of the board |
| 23% | IPUTASMELLONYOU | 15 | The other '56 song written by "Screamin' Jay" Hawkins that never made it to the charts because it really stunk? |
| 23% | BEATLES | 7 | The ___, "Abbey Road" band that wanted to make films based on "The Lord of the Rings" starring themselves |
| 23% | SUGAR | 5 | The 2008 sports film about a Dominican pitcher struggling to make it to the big leagues |
| 23% | NEARAS | 6 | "As ___ dammit": so close to being dead on that it really makes no difference |
| 23% | LEAD | 4 | What we call the core of a pencil, even though it's really graphite |
| 23% | THEELEPHANTMAN | 14 | 1980 film that led to the creation of the Academy Award for Best Makeup |
| 23% | ASPIRATE | 8 | Remake of the 2019 film "Parasite" that teaches people how to make "H" sounds? |
| 23% | MITCHUM | 7 | *Robert whom Roger Ebert called "the soul of film noir" |
| 22% | RABBITHOLE | 10 | Quick internet lookup that somehow leads to two hours of reading about the Shmoo, for example |
| 22% | MASS | 4 | *Did you know that 7d is so large, it accounts for 99.86% of the ___ (amount of matter) of the entire solar system? |
| 22% | ADHD | 4 | Condition that can make it hard to focus |
| 22% | GALAXYQUEST | 11 | Ebert called it among "the best Star Trek films ever made" |
| 22% | ROCKER | 6 | Piece that might make it hard to sit still |
| 22% | OATS | 4 | Wholesome breakfast grains that need 4 months of care by farmers before they make it to our bowls |
| 22% | HAL | 3 | Speaker of the film line "This mission is too important for me to allow you to jeopardize it" |
| 22% | TRON | 4 | Pioneering sci-fi film that was snubbed for the Best Visual Effects Oscar for its use of computers |
| 22% | NINE | 4 | Musical whose numerical title adds one-half to that of the Fellini film on which it is based |
| 22% | IVORY | 5 | Brand of soap flakes that was often used in the 1920s to make fake snow for Christmas decorations |
| 22% | RKO | 3 | Studio that made nine of the ten Astaire/Rogers films |
| 22% | ALARM | 5 | *Device that signals the need for 16a, the smoke makes it ring out loud, urging people to get out" |
| 22% | THEINCREDIBLES | 14 | Pixar film about a family of superheroes that won the 2005 Annie Award for Best Animated Feature: 2 wds. |
| 21% | TAMPS | 5 | Crushes the earth to make it hard |