| 100% | GRAFTON | 7 | Late author whose daughter wrote, "As far as we in the family are concerned, the alphabet now ends in Y" |
| 36% | HOFF | 4 | Harry S —, English author whose 1934 debut novel Trina was published in the US as It Happened in PRK |
| 31% | RANDY | 5 | Late songwriter ___ California, whose family is involved in the 18-Across lawsuit |
| 30% | BASEBALL | 8 | Team sport originating in the US whose playing field is known as a diamond |
| 29% | RONSTADT | 8 | Linda whose "Long, Long Time" is featured in the Last of Us episode of the same name |
| 29% | JOHNBOYEGA | 10 | "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" actor whose latest role is as a security guard in "Detroit": 2 wds. |
| 28% | KATIE | 5 | Author Kitamura who wrote “Intimacies,” whose protagonist works as an interpreter at the International Criminal Court in The Hague (July, 2021) |
| 28% | TONIMORRISON | 12 | Author who died in 2019 and was, as David Remnick wrote, “unsparing in her depiction of people who would use language to evil ends” |
| 28% | TURPETH | 7 | Plant of the morning glory family whose root was formerly used in medicine as a mild laxative |
| 27% | ABBA | 4 | Band whose first hit in the US was "Waterloo" |
| 27% | SIA | 3 | Australian whose first big hit in the US was "Chandelier" |
| 27% | STAHLBAUM | 9 | Family whose home The Nutcracker is set in |
| 27% | TURPETH | 7 | Plant of the morning glory family endemic in India whose root was formerly used in medicine as a mild laxative |
| 26% | ERNESTHEMINGWAY | 15 | Author of the book whose title is circled in the grid |
| 26% | ALISMITH | 8 | Author whose novel “Summer” is the final book in her Seasonal Quartet (August, 2020) |
| 26% | KLM | 3 | Airline whose name is three consecutive consonants in the alphabet |
| 26% | ARAL | 4 | Sea whose Wikipedia page is written in the past tense |
| 26% | ARAL | 4 | Sea whose Wikipedia article is written in the past tense |
| 26% | VOYAGERONE | 10 | NASA probe launched in 1977 which is now the farthest man made object from Earth |
| 26% | EGGO | 4 | Brand whose last letter is in the shape of its product |
| 25% | ETA | 3 | First letter in the Greek alphabet whose name is three letters long |
| 25% | IRAN | 4 | Country whose name ends in the same three letters as its capital |
| 25% | USS | 3 | Something that precedes Gerald R. Ford or John F. Kennedy, as far as the navy is concerned |
| 25% | OTISREDDING | 11 | US singer-songwriter whose posthumous album The Dock of the Bay was released in 1968 |
| 25% | PENNY | 5 | The only major character in "The Big Bang Theory" whose last name was never revealed |
| 25% | NYE | 3 | Bill, the guy who "Saves the World" as far as Netflix is concerned |
| 25% | SAGE | 4 | A popular meat seasoning herb that is in the same family as mint |
| 25% | REED | 4 | John —, US journalist whose book Ten Days that Shook the World concerned the 1917 October Revolution in Russia |
| 25% | JOHN | 4 | & 10A US journalist whose book Ten Days that Shook the World concerned the 1917 October Revolution in Russia |