| 100% | THEWATER | 8 | Dead in __, without hope of success |
| 56% | PRAYER | 6 | On a wing and a ___ (without hope of success) |
| 47% | ACT | 3 | ___ of desperation (something tried without much hope of success) |
| 47% | CUBAN | 5 | Mark of success in business? |
| 47% | ARAY | 4 | Without ___ of hope |
| 45% | FORTIES | 7 | In favor of dead heats? |
| 44% | FATELINE | 8 | Indicator of success in life, to a palmist |
| 44% | NEAT | 4 | Without ice, in terms of liquor |
| 42% | RAY | 3 | Bit of hope, in an expression |
| 42% | SNOW | 4 | Falls in the dead of winter |
| 42% | BLACKBIRD | 9 | "__ singing in the dead of night" |
| 42% | RAINBOW | 7 | Symbol of hope seen in the sky |
| 42% | OXYMORON | 8 | Element in "Night of the Living Dead" |
| 41% | PEGG | 4 | Simon who starred in Shaun of the Dead |
| 41% | HIT | 3 | Success in a game of Battleship |
| 41% | STALL | 5 | Delay in hope of extra time |
| 41% | ISIS | 4 | Protector of the dead, in myth |
| 40% | OBAMA | 5 | President who wrote "The Audacity of Hope" in 2006 |
| 40% | USO | 3 | Sponsor of many a Bob Hope show, in brief |
| 40% | DANDRUFF | 8 | Small pieces of dead skin in someone's hair |
| 40% | APPLEGATE | 9 | Christina, one of the leads in Dead to Me |
| 40% | ARAMAIC | 7 | Language used in some of the Dead Sea Scrolls |
| 40% | SIMONPEGG | 9 | Comedic actor in Shaun of the Dead, Star Trek |
| 40% | EPITAPH | 7 | Words on a tomb; in memory of someone dead |
| 40% | ACT | 3 | One of three in "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" |
| 40% | FASTING | 7 | The act of going without food, esp. in religions |
| 40% | MATCH | 5 | Success in a game of Go Fish |
| 40% | HEL | 3 | Abode of the dead, in Norse myth |
| 40% | OSIRIS | 6 | Prince of the dead, in ancient Egypt |
| 40% | ISIS | 4 | Protector of the dead, in Egyptian myth |