| 100% | DIAS | 4 | Bartolomeu ___, maritime explorer and first European to round the Cape of Good Hope |
| 60% | DIAS | 4 | First to round the Cape of Good Hope |
| 49% | DIAS | 4 | Navigator who first rounded the Cape of Good Hope |
| 45% | GAMA | 4 | Vasco da ___, maritime explorer and first European to reach India |
| 41% | DIAS | 4 | Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu, the first European to sail around the south of Africa |
| 38% | STORMS | 6 | The Cape of Good Hope was formerly Cape of __ |
| 38% | DIAS | 4 | Cape of Good Hope explorer |
| 34% | MAGELLAN | 8 | First European explorer to cross the Pacific |
| 34% | PLANA | 5 | The first thing to try (and hope for the best) |
| 34% | BALBOA | 6 | First European explorer to reach the Pacific, 1513 |
| 32% | DIAS | 4 | Cape of Good Hope discoverer |
| 32% | SOUTHAFRICA | 11 | Cape of Good Hope locale |
| 31% | SIDNEYPOITIER | 13 | 15-Across, 30-Across, and "Lilies of the Field" star who was the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Actor (2 wds.) |
| 31% | PONCEDELEON | 11 | Explorer who in 1513 became the first European to set foot in 14-Across, and gave the state its name: 3 wds. |
| 31% | VIKINGS | 7 | First group of Europeans to colonize the New World |
| 31% | NED | 3 | First name of the man who lives next to Homer and Marge |
| 30% | STEVIENICKS | 11 | First woman to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame |
| 30% | MARCOPOLO | 9 | Venetian explorer, who is known to be the first to have detailed accounts of travel to, and about China: 2 wds. |
| 30% | HOWE | 4 | Julia ___, first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters |
| 30% | TASMAN | 6 | Abel, Dutch seafarer and explorer who was the first European to reach Van Diemen's Land and Fiji |
| 30% | DESOTO | 6 | First European to cross the Mississippi |
| 30% | ADELE | 5 | First person to appear simultaneously on the American and British covers of Vogue (Oct. 2021) |
| 29% | ALONSO | 6 | Explorer ___ Álvarez de Pineda, first European to see the Mississippi |
| 29% | EDEN | 4 | Site of "every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food" |
| 29% | MON | 3 | First day of the week, for short (start to 15a, 30a, 41a, 42a, 47a, 19d, and 22d) |
| 29% | ITSADATE | 8 | "I'm there!" ... and hint to the first part of the answers to starred clues |
| 29% | BUMPERCROP | 10 | Abundant farm yield ... and what the first words of the answers to starred clues comprise? |
| 29% | LABORDAY | 8 | September 2, 2019 ... and what the first words of the answers to starred clues commemorate |
| 29% | GOLDSMITH | 9 | Oliver —, author of stage plays She Stoops to Conquer and The Good-Natur'd Man |