| 100% | BRAINROT | 8 | 2024 Word of the Year, per Collins Dictionary (just the shaded squares) or Oxford (the entire entry) |
| 40% | VAPE | 4 | Oxford English Dictionary's 2014 word of the year |
| 40% | ROT | 3 | Brain __: 2024 Oxford Word of the Year |
| 40% | PHRASE | 6 | Occasional Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year, oddly |
| 40% | RIZZ | 4 | Oxford's 2023 Word of the Year, defined as "style, charm, or attractiveness" |
| 38% | GOBLINMODE | 10 | Oxford English Dictionary's Word of the Year in 2022, describing an unapologetically self-indulgent state |
| 36% | EMOJI | 5 | The Oxford Dictionaries 2015 "Word" of the Year is one |
| 35% | VAX | 3 | Oxford Word of the Year for 2021 |
| 34% | SELFIE | 6 | Picture type that Oxford Dictionaries named its "Word of the Year" in 2013 |
| 33% | GOBLIN | 6 | With 13-Across, Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year |
| 33% | CHARM | 5 | What "rizz," Oxford's 2023 Word of the Year, means |
| 32% | AUTHENTIC | 9 | Merriam-Webster's 2023 Word of the Year, defined as "not false or imitation" |
| 31% | BOGGLE | 6 | Flummox ... or a classic word game represented by the central grid of shaded squares, in which 15-, 17- and 55-Across can be found |
| 31% | GOBLIN | 6 | With 27 Across, Oxford's Word of the Year for 2022, defined as self-indulgent behavior |
| 31% | MIDDLEENGLISH | 13 | Tongue of Chaucer ... or what's literally shown in the shaded squares? |
| 31% | SET | 3 | Entry comprising more than twenty pages of the Oxford English Dictionary |
| 30% | TINYTIM | 7 | Speaker of the words in the shaded squares, expressed literally |
| 29% | BUMPERCROPS | 11 | Bountiful harvests for farmers … or another hint to the crossings of shaded squares |
| 29% | FOURPARTHARMONY | 15 | Barbershop quartet feature... or what you get when you string together the last words of the starred entries? |
| 29% | UNITSPLACE | 10 | Position just left of the decimal point, or the last five squares of each starred answer |
| 29% | ONE | 3 | Last word of the year |
| 29% | SCOOPEDUP | 9 | Eagerly obtained ... or a hint to the contents of this puzzle's shaded squares? |
| 28% | ONE | 3 | Last word of the year, often |
| 28% | CROSSBREEDS | 11 | Animals with parents of two distinct varieties ... or a description of the pairs of shaded words? |
| 28% | LEASHES | 7 | Bunch held at intersections on outings with pets ... or in the intersections of the shaded words |
| 28% | AUTHENTIC | 9 | Merriam-Webster's 2023 word of the year |
| 28% | ONE | 3 | "Three...two...___..." (last words of the year, often) |
| 27% | OED | 3 | It's 2021 word of the year was "vax" |
| 27% | WINTERARC | 9 | Season-long alternative to a New Year's resolution, or what the letters in the shaded squares represent? |
| 27% | OED | 3 | Ref. work whose 2018 Word of the Year is "toxic" |