| 100% | DESOTO | 6 | Hernando —, Spanish explorer who discovered the Mississippi River |
| 77% | DESOTO | 6 | Spanish explorer who discovered the Mississippi |
| 58% | CARTIER | 7 | Jacques —, French explorer who discovered the St Lawrence River, Canada |
| 53% | STURT | 5 | Charles —, explorer who discovered the Darling River in Australia in 1829 |
| 47% | LASALLE | 7 | Explorer who claimed the Mississippi Basin for France |
| 44% | DESOTO | 6 | Explorer who died on the banks of the Mississippi |
| 42% | HENRYHUDSON | 11 | English explorer who discovered a large Canadian bay in the early 1600s: 2 wds. |
| 40% | ORELLANA | 8 | Francisco de —, 16th-century Spanish explorer who completed the first known navigation of the entire length of the Amazon River |
| 39% | CARTIER | 7 | Jacques —, French explorer who discovered St Lawrence River, Canada |
| 38% | NOONE | 5 | Who discovers the perfect crime |
| 38% | ACADIA | 6 | Oldest national park east of the Mississippi River |
| 37% | FRANCISDRAKE | 12 | Explorer who sailed from England, circling the globe from 1577 to 1580 and capturing treasure from Spanish ships: 2 wds. |
| 37% | IOWA | 4 | The Mississippi River forms its eastern border |
| 37% | IOWA | 4 | State on the Mississippi River |
| 37% | STPAUL | 6 | Capital on the Mississippi River |
| 37% | LSU | 3 | Sch. on the Mississippi River |
| 37% | IOWA | 4 | State along the Mississippi River |
| 37% | DESOTO | 6 | Spanish explorer Hernando |
| 37% | DESOTO | 6 | Mississippi River explorer |
| 37% | LASALLE | 7 | Mississippi River explorer |
| 36% | ERIK | 4 | Redhaired Viking explorer who discovered Greenland |
| 36% | SOURCE | 6 | Lake Itasca, for the Mississippi River |
| 36% | CHADWICK | 8 | James __; physicist who discovered the neutron |
| 36% | CHADWICK | 8 | Physicist James, who discovered the neutron |
| 36% | ALVAREZ | 7 | Physicist who discovered the iridium layer |
| 36% | DORA | 4 | Explorer who speaks Spanish |
| 36% | NNE | 3 | Upstream on the Mississippi River, along Miss. |
| 36% | STEAMER | 7 | Paddle-wheel ship on the Mississippi River |
| 36% | STL | 3 | Missouri city on the Mississippi River: Abbr. |
| 36% | GEIGER | 6 | German physicist who discovered the atomic nucleus |