| 100% | BEETON | 6 | Isabella —, cook whose Book of Household Management was first published in 1861 |
| 34% | THEGOLDBUG | 10 | Short story by Edgar Allan Poe first published in 1843 whose central character is William Legrand |
| 33% | CROSSWORDS | 10 | The first book of them was published |
| 33% | ERNESTHEMINGWAY | 15 | Author of the book whose title is circled in the grid |
| 32% | ALLFOR | 6 | Start of a motto first published in an 1844 book |
| 32% | NAT | 3 | Turner whose slave revolt was the subject of an 1861 article in The Atlantic |
| 32% | SEALS | 5 | Animals whose habitat can be found in the first three letters of their name |
| 32% | HYSSOP | 6 | Aromatic plant with spikes of small blue flowers whose leaves are used in cooking |
| 32% | HYSSOP | 6 | Aromatic plant with spikes of small, blue flowers whose leaves are used in cooking |
| 31% | MADEA | 5 | Tyler Perry character whose first film appearance was in "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" |
| 31% | ESPN | 4 | Cable channel whose first telecast, in 1979, was the debut episode of "SportsCenter" |
| 31% | MAPLELEAFRAG | 12 | Scott Joplin piano composition whose sheet music was first published in 1899 |
| 31% | COPERNICUS | 10 | Polish astronomer whose theory of the solar system was published in 1543 |
| 30% | HOPI | 4 | Language whose first dictionary was published in 1998 |
| 30% | PURPLE | 6 | "Harold and the ___ Crayon," film adaptation of a children's book, whose release date is in 2023 |
| 30% | ALLEY | 5 | "Gasoline ___," longest-running American comic strip which was first published in November 1918 |
| 30% | WISDOM | 6 | "Honesty is the first chapter in the book of ___": Thomas Jefferson |
| 30% | CRUSOE | 6 | Fictional hero whose first words are "I was born in the Year 1632, in the City of York ..." |
| 30% | FIGHTCLUB | 9 | Group in a 1999 movie whose first rule of membership is not to talk about it: 2 wds. |
| 30% | LIMELIGHT | 9 | 1952 film starring Charlie Chaplin...the first half of whose name is the key citrus fruit in 14a |
| 30% | TURIN | 5 | First capital in 1861 of united Italy |
| 30% | KIM | 3 | Rudyard Kipling novel first published in book form in 1901 |
| 30% | QUOVADIS | 8 | Henryk Sienkiewicz novel first published in book form in 1896 |
| 30% | WATCHANDWARD | 12 | Henry James novel first published in book form in 1878 |
| 29% | STEPHENCOLBERT | 14 | Author of a satirical book whose title consists of five U.S. state abbreviations (and is hidden in this puzzle) |
| 29% | HOLMES | 6 | Sherlock ___, detective whose story was first published in print in "A Study in Scarlet" on 1st December 1887 |
| 29% | DOUBLE | 6 | & 24A James M Cain novella first published in book form in 1943 |
| 29% | BARNEY | 6 | "___ Google and Snuffy Smith," the third-longest running American comics series which was first published in 1919 |
| 29% | HYMNAL | 6 | Book of songs that are sung in church |