| 100% | ANTIPASTO | 9 | First course, "before food" in Italian |
| 53% | SUPPE | 5 | First course in German? |
| 52% | SOUP | 4 | First course in a tureen |
| 51% | SALAD | 5 | First course in a restaurant, sometimes |
| 50% | ANTIPASTO | 9 | First Italian course? |
| 50% | PRIMI | 5 | Italian first courses |
| 49% | SOUP | 4 | Liquid food usually served in the first course |
| 49% | PLANA | 5 | First course of action, before resorting to contingencies |
| 48% | PORCINI | 7 | Meaty (piggy) mushroom used in Italian food |
| 48% | ACETO | 5 | Means vinegar in Italian, seen before balsamico |
| 48% | MARINATE | 8 | To soak food in seasoning before cooking |
| 48% | BRINING | 7 | Steeping food in salt water before cooking |
| 47% | ANTIPASTO | 9 | Italian first course/hors d'oeuvre |
| 47% | DESSERT | 7 | The course before cheese, or after it in France |
| 46% | APP | 3 | Food before the main course, for short |
| 46% | SBARRO | 6 | Italian food chain often found in malls |
| 46% | SBARRO | 6 | Italian restaurant frequently seen in food courts |
| 46% | APP | 3 | Food ordered before the main course, for short |
| 45% | INI | 3 | Suffix in many Italian food names |
| 45% | UNO | 3 | First number in Italian or Spanish |
| 45% | ZEROTH | 6 | It comes before first, in mathematics |
| 45% | ILIAD | 5 | First work read in Columbia's Literature Humanities course |
| 44% | UNO | 3 | First counting number in Italian |
| 44% | ARTDECO | 7 | Modern design style first in France before WWI |
| 44% | PERSONAL | 8 | The first P in PPE, before protective equipment |
| 43% | APPETIZER | 9 | First-course, finger food |
| 43% | POI | 3 | Food that tourists in Hawaii often try for the first time |
| 42% | APERITIF | 8 | Taken before a meal, first seen in a French film |
| 41% | TOSSEDSALAD | 11 | Common first course ... or what's literally contained in 17-, 23-, 32-, 44- and 49-Across? |
| 40% | STRUDEL | 7 | Toaster ___, brand of toaster pastry food that was first introduced in 1985 |