| 100% | STILLIRISE | 10 | Classic poem with the lines "Leaving behind nights of terror and fear ... Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear" |
| 33% | MRSANDMAN | 9 | Classic song with the line "Give him a lonely heart like Pagliacci / And lots of wavy hair like Liberace" |
| 32% | IROBOT | 6 | Classic 1950 book with the line "It's your fiction that interests me. Your studies of the interplay of human motives and emotion" |
| 31% | SCARLET | 7 | With "The" and 45-Across, classic Looney Tunes cartoon that's a parody of a classic novel |
| 31% | CHARLOTTESWEB | 13 | Children's classic with the line "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer" |
| 31% | STILLIRISE | 10 | Classic poem with the lines "Did you want to see me broken? / Bowed head and lowered eyes?" |
| 28% | IFMY | 4 | With 36- and 43-Across, second line of the poem |
| 28% | PRIMEREALESTATE | 15 | Asset that's all about "location, location, location" ... with a hint to the starts of 21-, 26- and 49-Across |
| 28% | WEAREFAMILY | 11 | Sister Sledge classic whose second line is "I got all my sisters with me," and a hint to the starts of 17-, 24-, 39-, and 49-Across |
| 27% | CHARLOTTESWEB | 13 | Children's classic by 50-Across with the line, "It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer" (2 wds.) |
| 27% | WRINKLEINTIME | 13 | With "A," classic science fantasy novel, and a feature of the theme answers |
| 27% | ANNABELLEE | 10 | Classic poem that begins "It was many and many a year ago / In a kingdom by the sea" |
| 26% | ANDABOTTLEOFRUM | 15 | Line that follows the opening syllables of 19-, 37-, and 42-Across, in a salty refrain |
| 26% | THEWHO | 6 | With Yes and the Band, band in an “SCTV” parody of a classic Abbott and Costello bit |
| 26% | MARS | 4 | "___ and the Mind of Man," book that features a panel discussion with Carl Sagan and others |
| 26% | HANDSET | 7 | The part of a phone that you hold and speak into |
| 26% | BEASTIEBOYS | 11 | Rap group with the classic 1986 album "Licensed to Ill" … or a description of 17-, 24-, 48- and 57-Across? |
| 26% | ITOO | 4 | Classic Langston Hughes poem quoted on a wall of the National Museum of African American History and Culture |
| 26% | LEMUR | 5 | Primate with large eyes and a long tail that is endemic to the island of Madagascar |
| 26% | WEST | 4 | Direction that's on the left side of a compass |
| 26% | ELLERYQUEEN | 11 | Classic detective fiction pseudonym with a namesake literary award that contains the name of a chess piece (2 wds.) |
| 25% | ELF | 3 | Movie with the line "Son of a nutcracker!" |
| 25% | PACER | 5 | "Alright kids, line up for the ___ test!" (acronym of a P.E. run that leaves students breathless) |
| 25% | SEVEN | 5 | Digit that’s sometimes written with a line through the middle |
| 25% | RIB | 3 | Bone that's part of a cage and protects the chest |
| 25% | BAGGAGECLAIM | 12 | Miranda Lambert single with the lines "You got a lot of luggage in your name / When you hit the ground, check the lost and found" (2 wds.) |
| 25% | THYME | 5 | Herb that's part of a song with parsley, sage, and rosemary |
| 25% | WAHOO | 5 | Exclamation that's also the name of a tree, bush, and fish |
| 25% | ITOOSINGAMERICA | 15 | Opening of the Langston Hughes poem with the lines "They'll see how beautiful I am / And be ashamed" |
| 25% | BACKSPACE | 9 | PC key with a left-pointing arrow ... and hint to the last words of the answers to starred clues |