| 100% | SOREL | 5 | Julien —, central character in 1830 Stendhal novel The Red and the Black |
| 39% | TELLWRIGHT | 10 | Anna —, central character in 1902 Arnold Bennett novel Anna of the Five Towns |
| 38% | SEAS | 4 | The Red and the Black |
| 38% | ELIZABETH | 9 | & 16D Central female character in 1813 Jane Austen novel Pride and Prejudice |
| 38% | RASSENDYLL | 10 | Rudolf —, central character in 1894 Anthony Hope novel The Prisoner of Zenda |
| 38% | RUNATAB | 7 | Be in the red for black and tans? |
| 37% | SEAS | 4 | The Red and the Black, for two |
| 37% | THINMAN | 7 | The —, 1934 Dashiell Hammett novel whose central characters are Nick and Nora Charles |
| 36% | PETULENGRO | 10 | Jasper —, character in novels by George Borrow including The Romany Rye and Lavengro |
| 35% | HENRY | 5 | ___ Fleming, central character in "The Red Badge of Courage" |
| 35% | THEGIFT | 7 | Vladimir Nabokov novel written in the 1930s whose central character is Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev |
| 34% | GIFT | 4 | The —, Vladimir Nabokov novel originally published in serial form in 1938 whose central character is Fyodor Godunov-Cherdyntsev |
| 34% | AMYDORRIT | 9 | Title character of an 1857 novel by Charles Dickens born and raised in the Marshalsea debtors' prison |
| 34% | ANI | 3 | Black long tailed bird from the Cuckoo family, found mostly in Central and South America |
| 34% | COMMA | 5 | Character in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? |
| 33% | ABRAHAMLINCOLN | 14 | Historical figure whose son is the central character of a George Saunders novel mostly set in a temporary afterlife |
| 33% | GAMP | 4 | Sarah —, character in 1844 Charles Dickens novel The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit noted for her large umbrella |
| 33% | GIANT | 5 | Character in the "Jack and the Beanstalk" story |
| 33% | LARA | 4 | ___ Jean Song Covey (character in the "To All the Boys" movies and novels) |
| 33% | KIMBALLOHARA | 12 | Central character in 1901 novel Kim by Rudyard Kipling |
| 32% | FBI | 3 | Org. in "Judas and the Black Messiah" |
| 32% | KINGARTHUR | 10 | Character in "Camelot" and "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" |
| 32% | BLOOM | 5 | Leopold —, central character in 1922 James Joyce novel Ulysses |
| 32% | FBI | 3 | Intelligence agency in "Judas and the Black Messiah": Abbr. |
| 32% | ORGS | 4 | Red Cross and the like, in brief |
| 31% | MANICKA | 7 | Rani —, author of novels The Rice Mother and Black Jack |
| 31% | SCARLET | 7 | Character with the red piece in Clue, Miss __ |
| 31% | ALHAMBRA | 8 | The red fortress and palace in Granada, Spain |
| 31% | BECKY | 5 | & 18D Central character in 1840s W M Thackeray novel Vanity Fair |