| 100% | FBIAGENTS | 9 | Govt. employees encoded by the nine other longest across entries in this puzzle ... and who might be called in to decode them |
| 35% | HERO | 4 | *Person who saves the day... and a word you may use to describe those being celebrated in this puzzle |
| 33% | HIDEINPLAINSIGHT | 16 | What words concealed by the other four longest Across answers do ... and also, what each of them is |
| 32% | RUDOLPH | 7 | Who's depicted in this puzzle when the circled letters are connected from A to Z and back to A |
| 32% | AMBULANCE | 9 | Vehicle whose sound is imitated by the first three Across entries in this puzzle |
| 31% | PERSEVERANCE | 12 | Subject of the adage formed by the starts of nine long answers in this puzzle |
| 30% | NEWYEARSEVE | 11 | Time to sing the tune suggested by the starts of 10 long answers in this puzzle |
| 30% | ANYTAKERS | 9 | "Who's interested?" ... or, phonetically, what four answers in this puzzle are vis-à-vis the answers next to them |
| 30% | RECYCLEDMETAL | 13 | Scrapyard commodity ... and what's hidden in the nine other longest puzzle answers |
| 30% | SOS | 3 | Critical message that's a hint to the six longest entries in this puzzle |
| 30% | MYTHS | 5 | The answers to the starred clues in this puzzle … or are they? |
| 29% | STOLEN | 6 | What the starts of nine answers in this puzzle might be |
| 29% | GREAT | 5 | With 27-, 49- and 66-Across, phrase applicable to five innovations in this puzzle (as suggested by the starred clues) |
| 29% | JUSTICEGINSBURG | 15 | Subject of this puzzle, who once said "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you" |
| 29% | TURNONAD | 8 | With 69-Across, change quickly, and a hint to completing three other long answers in this puzzle |
| 29% | COUNTDOWN | 9 | What might end the year, and a hint to five answers in this puzzle |
| 29% | TRICKORTREAT | 12 | What is found divided at the starts and ends of nine answers in this puzzle |
| 28% | MIDAS | 5 | Man who changed 10 letters in this puzzle by touching them (the original letters describe his daughter, to his dismay) |
| 28% | PARADISELOST | 12 | John Milton epic, and a hint to how four long answers in this puzzle were formed |
| 28% | JUDYBLUME | 9 | Novelist who wrote "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and the other three frequently banned books in this puzzle (2 wds.) |
| 28% | NOWYOUSEEITNOWYOUDONT | 21 | Magic words … or a hint to the other long answers in this puzzle |
| 28% | ANYMOMENT | 9 | "It's about to happen" ... or what each of the four other longest answers in this puzzle has? |
| 28% | FURNITUREASSEMBLY | 17 | Ikea task, and a task that can be applied to the sets of circled letters in this puzzle |
| 28% | YIDDISH | 7 | Source of the six longest Across answers in this puzzle |
| 28% | TUMBLEWEEDS | 11 | Drifters in some Western scenes ... and a hint to what's hidden in the three other longest puzzle answers |
| 28% | IBELIEVEICANFLY | 15 | R. Kelly hit whose last title word is aptly rhymed with "sky" in the lyrics ... and a hint to the starts of the other four longest puzzle answers |
| 28% | POSEIDON | 8 | God who banished 63-Across to the sky, as depicted by the constellation formed by the X's in this puzzle's finished grid |
| 27% | DONUT | 5 | Treat whose varieties appear at the starts of four long answers and are represented a dozen times in this puzzle |
| 27% | ITGOESWITHOUTSAYING | 19 | "We all see the obvious here, right?," and how to make six long answers in this puzzle match their clues? |
| 27% | HALLOFFAME | 10 | This dedication to US Space Walking astronauts and equipment contractors is by the Indian R. in Titusville, FL. |