| 100% | MUD | 3 | Kind of pie, or change a letter in 18d to get the answer |
| 70% | WORD | 4 | Part of a sentence, or change a letter in 22a to get the answer |
| 67% | CORD | 4 | Telephone wire, or change a letter in 14a to get the answer |
| 67% | MAD | 3 | Extremely upset, or change a letter in 6d to get the answer |
| 66% | WARM | 4 | Like some welcomes, or change a letter in 39a to get the answer |
| 65% | MUM | 3 | Close-mouthed, or change a letter in 27d to get the answer |
| 59% | WARD | 4 | Third ___, area in Houston home to Beyonce or change a letter in 34a to get the answer |
| 46% | FINALSWEEK | 10 | Period for taking exams ... or a hint to the pattern shown in the last three or four letters of the asterisked answers |
| 45% | DOUBLEBLIND | 11 | Kind of experiment ... or a hint to 10 Down answers in this puzzle |
| 45% | SPLITPEA | 8 | Kind of soup ... or a hint to the answers to the five starred clues |
| 45% | ADHOMINEM | 9 | Kind of fallacious argument … or, phonetically, a hint to the answers to the starred clues |
| 45% | GRECOROMAN | 10 | Kind of wrestling ... or a hint to four pairs of crossing answers in this puzzle |
| 43% | SWITCHEDONTHETV | 15 | Got ready to binge-watch ... or a hint to phonetic changes in four puzzle answers |
| 43% | BUGSOUT | 7 | Leaves in a hurry, or a hint to the cluing of the starred answers |
| 43% | LOOSELEAF | 9 | Kind of paper ... and a hint to a sequence, each starting with a different letter, found in four other puzzle answers |
| 42% | EDGEWISE | 8 | One way to get a word in ... and an aural hint to a feature of the starred clues' answers |
| 42% | HIDDENGEM | 9 | Diamond in the rough ... or a literal feature of each answer to a starred clue |
| 42% | MOVEDOVER | 9 | Change a map of southern England? … or, when parsed differently, what you need to do to the answers to the starred clues |
| 42% | FRIENDSTOTHEEND | 15 | True buds, and a hint to the last three or four letters of each starred answer |
| 42% | NAMECARDS | 9 | Labels at a dinner party ... or a hint to the circled letters hidden in the theme answers? |
| 41% | BOOT | 4 | Change a letter to get the body part it goes on |
| 41% | ANIMALHOUSE | 11 | 1978 John Belushi movie, and a hint to the first three or four letters of the starred answers |
| 41% | LEADDETECTIVES | 14 | Ones in charge of a case ... or a literal hint to the eight other longest answers in this puzzle |
| 40% | TAKEITDOWNANOTCH | 16 | Reduce one’s excitement slightly ... or what you have to do to the final letter of five long answers in this puzzle? |
| 40% | SANSA | 5 | Winterfell character on "Game of Thrones" ... or, if you change the fourth letter to T, a wintertime character |
| 39% | BACKSTORY | 9 | Fictional past, or a hint to four-letter words found in the starred answers |
| 39% | CANISTEALYOUFORASECOND | 22 | Request for one-on-one time in the "Bachelor" TV franchise … or a phonetic hint to four pairs of answers in this puzzle |
| 39% | SLICEOPEN | 9 | Get to the heart of, in a way |
| 39% | SPA | 3 | Place to get a facial or a dip in the jacuzzi |
| 38% | III | 3 | The third ... or a hint to the rhyming ends of every Across answer |