| 27% | ALMA | 4 | September 1854 battle in the Crimean War |
| 26% | ALMA | 4 | September, 1854 battle in the Crimean War |
| 26% | REVENGE | 7 | The —, Alfred Tennyson poem about Sir Richard Grenville and the 1591 Battle of Flores with the Spanish fleet in the Azores |
| 25% | TSAR | 4 | Leader in the Crimean War |
| 24% | TURKS | 5 | One party in the Crimean War |
| 24% | BROOK | 5 | "The ___," poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson about a small stream |
| 24% | TOLSTOY | 7 | Novelist who fought in the Crimean War |
| 24% | USE | 3 | "___ the Force, Luke" (Said by 7-Across in "Star Wars: A New Hope") |
| 24% | JUDO | 4 | Martial art that's an event in the Olympics |
| 24% | LILACS | 6 | "When ___ Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd," poem by Walt Whitman which is an elegy to Abraham Lincoln |
| 23% | DDAY | 4 | Event in the war docudrama "Storming Juno" |
| 23% | EASYRAWLINS | 11 | Fictional war veteran and private investigator featured in 14 novels by 29-Across (2 wds.) |
| 23% | COLA | 4 | “Rock and roller ___ wars” (final historical event referenced in “We Didn’t Start the Fire”) |
| 23% | TEAMUSA | 7 | Olympic delegation cheered on by the chant found in 16-, 22-, 49-, and 60-Across |
| 23% | MAUD | 4 | — and Other Poems, 1855 volume by Alfred Tennyson |
| 22% | LADY | 4 | "___ Lazarus," 1965 poem by Sylvia Plath in which she alludes to the mythical phoenix and which was included in the collection "Ariel" |
| 22% | SONG | 4 | "Morning ___," poem by Sylvia Plath written in 1961 about an artist's freedom of expression which was included in the collection, "Ariel" |
| 22% | ANNABELLEE | 10 | Classic poem that begins "It was many and many a year ago / In a kingdom by the sea" |
| 22% | PRO | 3 | ___ Bowl, prestigious annual event held by the NFL to which Vinny Testaverde was invited in 1996 and 1998 |
| 22% | STRANGEFRUIT | 12 | Poem of protest written by Abel Meeropol and sung by Billie in 1939 that later became an anthem of change: 2 wds. |
| 22% | ASTERISK | 8 | * (And by the way, her name appears in this puzzle 16 times) |
| 22% | GALEN | 5 | Township in Wayne County, NY, chartered in 1812, traversed by the Erie Canal and named after an ancient Roman physician |
| 22% | GUNSMITH | 8 | An expert in the design and repair of firearms |
| 22% | CANDLE | 6 | __ in the Wind, song by Taupin and John |
| 21% | CUPCAKE | 7 | Celebratory frosted treat, and an item that you can bake by following the recipe in 28a, 41a, 46a, 1d, and 36d |
| 21% | SHEE | 4 | Fairy-like Irish being that lives underground or in an alternate universe and which is sometimes preceded by the word "ban" |
| 21% | DESPACITO | 9 | Song by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee featuring Justin Bieber that topped the Billboard Hot 100 for 16 weeks in 2017 |
| 21% | ECLIPSE | 7 | Event in which the sun is obscured by the moon |