| 100% | TROPE | 5 | Familiar cliché in storytelling, like "the love triangle" or "the girl next door" |
| 43% | DONNA | 5 | The girl next door and Eric Forman's love interest from "That 70s Show" |
| 39% | TROPE | 5 | The girl next door, for one |
| 38% | TROPE | 5 | "Girl next door," or "meet-cute," in a movie |
| 36% | EMILE | 5 | Actor Hirsch, star of Milk and The Girl Next Door |
| 36% | RUNTY | 5 | Like the smallest puppy or kitten in a litter |
| 35% | MALAPHOR | 8 | Informal term for a sentence that mixes two idioms or cliches, like the ones found in 20a, 42a, 58a, 24d, and 25d |
| 35% | ODD | 3 | Like the number 1, or the number of letters in "one" |
| 34% | SUNK | 4 | Like many ships in the Bermuda Triangle |
| 34% | ACUTE | 5 | Like the angles in an equilateral triangle |
| 34% | GAY | 3 | Like the main romance in Love, Simon |
| 34% | RAINY | 5 | Like the weather in Seattle or London |
| 34% | LESBIAN | 7 | Like the love story in 2013's "Blue Is the Warmest Color" |
| 34% | DOROTHY | 7 | First name of actor Dandridge or the girl in Oz |
| 34% | DARKANDSTORMY | 13 | Like the night in a novel-opening cliche |
| 34% | BROWNEYED | 9 | Like the girl in a Van Morrison song |
| 34% | TROPICAL | 8 | Like the climate in Tahiti or the Bahamas |
| 34% | ARID | 4 | Like the Sahara or Gobi in terms of weather |
| 33% | ODD | 3 | Like the number of sides on a triangle or pentagon |
| 33% | ALONGSIDE | 9 | Next to a ship or the pier, as in docking |
| 33% | GONE | 4 | Like the title girl in a 2014 David Fincher film |
| 33% | SUCCESSOR | 9 | Heir or next in line to the throne |
| 32% | EIGHT | 5 | Number that sounds like "ate" or the next number in a New Year's countdown (go to 7d to find out what you can do next year) |
| 32% | HIRSCH | 6 | Actor Emile of "The Girl Next Door" |
| 32% | TENDER | 6 | The T in TLC, or __ loving care |
| 32% | LANG | 4 | Lana who lived next door to the Kents in Smallville |
| 32% | DILATE | 6 | Become larger or wider like the pupils in the eyes |
| 32% | SEEDY | 5 | Like an everything bagel, or Times Square in the '70s |
| 32% | AIRLINEFEED | 11 | The next step in treating flyers like cattle? |
| 32% | ICY | 3 | Like some stares ... or stairs in the winter |