| 100% | PACE | 4 | It's what the lead car at the start of a NASCAR race sets |
| 46% | EARLYLEAD | 9 | What the front-runner has at the start of a race (2 wds.) |
| 46% | COIN | 4 | It's tossed at the start of a football game |
| 45% | FLAG | 4 | It's checkered at the end of a race |
| 45% | ICE | 3 | It gets broken at the start of a conversation |
| 45% | LOVEALL | 7 | Score at the start of a set |
| 45% | NOTIT | 5 | What some people shout at the start of a game of tag: 2 wds. |
| 44% | SCATTER | 7 | What players do at the start of a game of tag |
| 44% | TEES | 4 | What golf balls rest on at the start of a hole |
| 44% | MENU | 4 | It's often posted at the start of a restaurant's drive-thru lane |
| 44% | POSITION | 8 | Pole __, in first position at the start of a race |
| 44% | EATUP | 5 | What a cook might say at the start of a meal: 2 wds. |
| 43% | SNAP | 4 | What a center will do to a football at the start of a play |
| 43% | TAPE | 4 | What a runner breaks through at the end of a race |
| 42% | TAPE | 4 | What a marathon winner breaks through at the end of a race |
| 42% | MAT | 3 | What a team steps on at the end of an "Amazing Race" leg |
| 41% | AREWEALONE | 10 | Spy's query at the start of a meeting |
| 41% | USS | 3 | Letters at the start of a destroyer's name |
| 41% | ACTION | 6 | Director's cry at the start of a scene |
| 41% | FOURQUARTERS | 12 | Change for a dollar, and what can be found at the starts of the answers to the starred clues |
| 40% | DAWNRAID | 8 | Huge stock purchase at the start of a day's trading |
| 40% | ASH | 3 | What's at the tip of a lit cigarette |
| 40% | ANTE | 4 | Money that's put in at the start of a poker hand |
| 40% | AREALMAN | 8 | What "it takes," at the start of many macho mantras |
| 40% | XII | 3 | It's at the top of a face |
| 39% | SIDESALAD | 9 | Dish that may accompany a main course, and what can be found at the start of 17-, 25-, 38-, or 53-Across? |
| 39% | CABOOSE | 7 | Car at the back of a train |
| 39% | SEED | 4 | A team's ranking at the start of the March Madness tournament |
| 39% | TURNRED | 7 | What the focus of a 125-Across will do at its climax |
| 39% | DECK | 4 | It's divided at the start of war |