| 100% | REDSHIRTS | 9 | Holds aside for a year, in college sports |
| 72% | REDSHIRT | 8 | Hold aside for a year, as a college athlete |
| 44% | FLUNK | 5 | Hold back a year in school |
| 43% | BRIANMAY | 8 | Lead guitarist for rock band Queen, he also holds a Ph.D. in Astrophysics from Imperial College London: 2 wds. |
| 43% | SHIRT | 5 | Hold aside, as a college athlete, to extend his eligibility |
| 43% | REDSHIRT | 8 | Keep out of college sports for a season |
| 42% | LARA | 4 | She disappears for a few years in "Doctor Zhivago" |
| 41% | IRA | 3 | Money set aside for later years, in brief |
| 41% | SEM | 3 | Half a college year, for short |
| 41% | PDA | 3 | Hold hands in a subway, for e.g.: Abbr. |
| 41% | BACKPAGE | 8 | Place for sports headlines in a tabloid |
| 41% | REF | 3 | Arbiter in a sports match, for short |
| 41% | TVS | 3 | Screens in a sports bar, for short |
| 40% | SEM | 3 | Half of a college academic year, for short |
| 40% | STAT | 4 | Number listed in a sports almanac, for short |
| 40% | PENALTY | 7 | Sanction imposed in sport for breaking a rule |
| 40% | TIE | 3 | ___ tack, tiny fastener for a formal neckpiece that helps hold it in place |
| 39% | RAINYDAY | 8 | Time to set aside money for, in a saying |
| 39% | TESTTUBE | 8 | Thin glass cylinder for holding chemicals in a lab |
| 39% | CACTI | 5 | Plural for a plant that grows in the desert, has spikes, and holds water |
| 39% | BBALL | 5 | A casual name for the sport played by teams in 16a: Hyph. |
| 39% | SENATESEAT | 10 | Position for which a race is held every six years |
| 39% | RANKING | 7 | Position in a college sports poll |
| 38% | OLIVEPIT | 8 | Medium for a three-centimetre-long carved boat held in Taiwan’s National Palace Museum |
| 38% | ANO | 3 | A year in Mexico |
| 38% | ANNEE | 5 | A year in Provence |
| 38% | ANO | 3 | A year in Brazil |
| 38% | ANNEE | 5 | A year in Montréal |
| 38% | ANNEE | 5 | A year in Paris |
| 38% | ANNO | 4 | A year in Italy |