| 100% | RICHARDPOWERS | 13 | Award-winning novelist of 18-Across and 44-Across (2 wds.) |
| 69% | JULIANFELLOWES | 14 | 18-Across and 44-Across writer/creator who won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for "Gosford Park" (2 wds.) |
| 66% | CORNELIAFUNKE | 13 | Novelist of 18-Across and the "Inkheart" trilogy (2 wds.) |
| 65% | NOBELPRIZE | 10 | Award 18-Across won twice, for her work in physics and chemistry: 2 wds. |
| 64% | JANEHARPER | 10 | 18-Across and 33-Across writer whose novel "The Dry" won the British Book Award for Crime & Thriller Book of the Year 2018 (2 wds.) |
| 64% | JEFFERYDEAVER | 13 | "The Bone Collector" mystery novelist who created 18-Across and 44-Across (2 wds.) |
| 63% | EMILYHENRY | 10 | 18-Across, 26-Across, and 35-Across novelist who won the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Romance (2 wds.) |
| 62% | CLINTBLACK | 10 | 18-Across, 26-Across, and 35-Across country singer who won four 1989 Academy of Country Music Awards, including Top Male Vocalist (2 wds.) |
| 62% | PULITZERPRIZE | 13 | Award won by 15-, 19-, 43-, and 52-Across: 2 wds. |
| 62% | RICHARDPOWERS | 13 | Author of 18-Across, 40-Across, and the National Book Award-winning "The 9-Down Maker" (2 wds.) |
| 62% | KILLINTIME | 10 | Album by 45-Across featuring the singles 18-Across and 26-Across that won the 1989 Album of the Year Academy of Country Music Award (2 wds.) |
| 61% | TANAFRENCH | 10 | Bestselling novelist of 18-Across, 31-Across, and 2024's "The Hunter" (2 wds.) |
| 61% | FREDRIKBACKMAN | 14 | Swedish author of 19-Across and 44-Across: 2 wds. |
| 61% | BEFORETRILOGY | 13 | Series of three romantic dramas written/directed by Richard Linklater and starring 18-Across and 44-Across (2 wds.) |
| 61% | TANAFRENCH | 10 | Bestselling novelist of 18-Across, 31-Across, and 2018's "The Witch Elm" (2 wds.) |
| 60% | STEPHENKING | 11 | Best-selling author of 25-, 36-, and 44-Across: 2 wds. |
| 60% | STEPHENKING | 11 | Author of "The Shining" and 18-Across: 2 wds. |
| 60% | ARCHIEMANNING | 13 | College Football Hall of Famer whose sons Peyton and Eli both won the NFL Man of the Year award named for 18-Across (2 wds.) |
| 60% | ROUNDTABLE | 10 | Meeting place of 18-Across and his knights: 2 wds. |
| 60% | LARRYMCMURTRY | 13 | 18-Across, 44-Across, and "The Last Picture Show" novelist/screenwriter who lived his whole life in the small Texas town of Archer City (1936-2021) (2 wds.) |
| 60% | NEILGAIMAN | 10 | Award-winning novelist of "American Gods," 18-Across, 28-Across, and 34-Across who turns 59 today |
| 59% | RICHARDKIMBLE | 13 | Role played by 18- and 44-Across: 2 wds. |
| 59% | FAYEKELLERMAN | 13 | "The Quality of Mercy" novelist who has written 27 mysteries featuring 18-Across and 40-Across (2 wds.) |
| 59% | TONIMORRISON | 12 | 18-Across and 32-Across novelist who won the 1993 Nobel Prize for Literature (2 wds.) |
| 59% | KRISTINHANNAH | 13 | Bestselling novelist of "The Nightingale," 18-Across, and 39-Across (2 wds.) |
| 58% | THESEAAROUNDUS | 14 | 44-Across book about the science and history of the ocean that won the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction (4 wds.) |
| 58% | VANPELT | 7 | Last name of Linus and Lucy in 44-Across: 2 wds. |
| 58% | GEORGEELIOT | 11 | Pen name of 18-Across, 30-Across, and "Adam Bede" novelist Mary Ann Evans (2 wds.) |
| 58% | POSTMALONE | 10 | 18-Across, 27-Across, and 34-Across rapper whose "Rockstar" won the 2018 Billboard Music Award for Top Rap Song and the 2018 MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year (2 wds.) |
| 57% | JOHNSTEINBECK | 13 | Nobel Prize-winning writer born February 27, 1902, who wrote 18-Across and 44-Across (2 wds.) |