| 100% | KIESE | 5 | Laymon who wrote “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America” |
| 48% | ANGER | 5 | Ed ___ who wrote "Let's Pave the Stupid Rainforests & Give School Teachers Stun Guns: And Other Ways to Save America" in 1996 |
| 40% | ESL | 3 | Class to teach immigrants how to speak and write in America: Abbr. |
| 36% | IVANKA | 6 | The Trump who wrote "The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life" |
| 35% | NIN | 3 | Who said "We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection" |
| 34% | SPENCE | 6 | Superlawyer Gerry who wrote "How to Argue and Win Every Time" |
| 34% | PAPI | 4 | “Hola ___: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons” (John Paul Brammer memoir) |
| 34% | GANDHI | 6 | Who said "The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others" |
| 32% | JUDYBLUME | 9 | Novelist who wrote "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and the other three frequently banned books in this puzzle (2 wds.) |
| 31% | FRACTURE | 8 | 2007 film starring Anthony Hopkins about a man who tries to kill his wife, and then defends himself in court |
| 31% | LEE | 3 | Harper who wrote To Kill a Mockingbird |
| 31% | ALEXIS | 6 | De Tocqueville who wrote "Democracy in America" |
| 31% | STALLONE | 8 | Actor who wrote and starred in "Rocky" |
| 31% | ONO | 3 | Who wrote and sang "We're All Water" in 1972 |
| 31% | PHOEBE | 6 | Waller-Bridge who wrote and starred in "Fleabag" |
| 31% | ROMAN | 5 | Alison who wrote "Dining In" and "Nothing Fancy" |
| 31% | FBIAGENTS | 9 | Govt. employees encoded by the nine other longest across entries in this puzzle ... and who might be called in to decode them |
| 30% | SEGEL | 5 | Jason who wrote and starred in Forgetting Sarah Marshall |
| 30% | PROOFREAD | 9 | To find and correct errors in writing |
| 30% | ARSENIOHALL | 11 | He played Prince Akeem's friend Semmi (and other roles) in "Coming to America": 2 wds. |
| 30% | WHEATLEY | 8 | Phillis who wrote the poem “On Being Brought from Africa to America” |
| 30% | OLGA | 4 | Nobel Prize-winner Tokarczuk who wrote Primeval and Other Times |
| 30% | SHIA | 4 | LaBeouf who wrote and starred in 2019's "Honey Boy" |
| 30% | CAPTAINAHAB | 11 | To whom Stubb and Flask answered, in literature |
| 30% | EDDIEMURPHY | 11 | He played Prince Akeem (and other roles) in the 1988 romantic comedy "Coming to America": 2 wds. |
| 30% | 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” |
| 30% | MARCO | 5 | Polo who wrote about his travels to Cathay in “Il Milione” |
| 30% | ADAMS | 5 | Abigail who wrote "remember the ladies" to her husband in 1776 |
| 29% | PENPALS | 7 | Friends who write letters to each other: 2 wds. |