| 100% | BUCKET | 6 | A drop in the __, a little bit of what is needed |
| 51% | ASL | 3 | What might be seen in the corner of a TV screen: Abbr. |
| 50% | CORAL | 5 | What the beaklike teeth of a parrotfish are used to bite |
| 49% | WHITE | 5 | What the color of Bing Crosby's Christmas is, in a 1942 song? |
| 48% | PITS | 4 | "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries What Am I Doing in the ___?" (Erma Bombeck book) |
| 48% | ERMA | 4 | "If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits?" writer Bombeck |
| 48% | STOOP | 5 | Bend to go through a doorway, say ... or what may be in front of the door |
| 48% | MPH | 3 | What the speed of a tennis serve or baseball pitch is measured in: Abbr. |
| 48% | GENRE | 5 | What the start of 17-, 29-, 45- or 61-Across is, in a bookstore |
| 48% | BRAISE | 6 | Slow-cook in a little bit of liquid |
| 48% | ERMA | 4 | Bombeck who wrote If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? |
| 47% | IWAS | 4 | "___ born by the river / In a little tent" (start of Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come") |
| 47% | PROTON | 6 | A little bit in favour of weight |
| 47% | ANNOY | 5 | Be a thorn in the side of |
| 47% | IRK | 3 | Be a thorn in the side of |
| 47% | STALEMATERIAL | 13 | Dated jokes ... and what the ends of four Across answers are, in a way |
| 47% | ACT | 3 | Anagram of the animal in 23a which is what Ryan Reynolds does for a living |
| 46% | DRYMARTIN | 9 | What "should be made by filling a glass with gin, then waving it in the general direction of Italy," per Noël Coward |
| 46% | CROSSREFERENCES | 15 | Things to "see" in a dictionary, and what both parts of the answers to the starred clues are? |
| 46% | YOUREMISSINGOUT | 15 | "That's a lost opportunity," and what can be said to the writer of four clues in this puzzle |
| 45% | CROSSREFERENCES | 15 | Things to "see" in a dictionary, and what both parts of the answers to the starred clues are? |
| 45% | ANNEMURRAY | 10 | "You Needed Me" singer who was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1984: 2 wds. |
| 45% | NIP | 3 | Bit of a chill in the air |
| 45% | AGE | 3 | "It's a little-known fact that the tan became popular in what is known as the Bronze ___," quote by Cliff on "Cheers" |
| 45% | HANDS | 5 | What are needed to play the last-word theme of the puzzle |
| 45% | EASTERN | 7 | China is a country in the ___ hemisphere of the world |
| 45% | ASH | 3 | What drops from the end of a cigarette |
| 45% | TENT | 4 | What a "big top" is, in the circus |
| 45% | GOAL | 4 | What is scored in a game of soccer |
| 45% | IRIS | 4 | A pupil is in the middle of it |