| 100% | ART | 3 | Life is short and this is long, per Hippocrates |
| 54% | EARED | 5 | Short- and long-__ are species of this owl |
| 44% | TON | 3 | This weight may be long or short |
| 42% | APHORISM | 8 | "Art is long, life is short," e.g. |
| 41% | GRIMDARK | 8 | Fantasy genre in which life is nasty, brutish, and short |
| 40% | LONGJUMP | 8 | This track and field event is no short hop |
| 39% | JOHNOFARRELL | 12 | Author of the novels This Is Your Life and May Contain Nuts |
| 39% | EVIL | 4 | This is bad. Real bad. And it's lurking in the longest puzzle answers, too! |
| 38% | EBERT | 5 | "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough" speaker |
| 38% | EBERT | 5 | Who said "No good movie is too long, and no bad movie is short enough" |
| 38% | OWES | 4 | Is short and shy |
| 38% | BANDE | 5 | Burglary, for short ... and a hint to this puzzle's four longest answers |
| 37% | TIMESCHANGE | 11 | "That was then and this is now" |
| 37% | ONASLIDINGSCALE | 15 | Adjusted to some index - or how 23-, 35-, 66- and 93-Across are measured per this puzzle? |
| 37% | TAKINGNOTES | 11 | Creating study aids during a classroom lecture, and how seven long answers in this puzzle were created? |
| 36% | EBERT | 5 | Film critic Roger who said, "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough" |
| 36% | ICECREAM | 8 | Affogato is coffee and this |
| 35% | TOO | 3 | Life Is ___ Short (Mickey Rooney autobiography) |
| 35% | CONFUSED | 8 | Matthew McConaughey was Dazed and this |
| 35% | DNA | 3 | Building block of life, and what's hidden in this puzzle's 4 longest answers |
| 35% | DOUBLEDOUBLE | 12 | Basketball stat, and what can be found in six of this puzzle's long answers |
| 35% | BIO | 3 | This is your life |
| 35% | DRAG | 4 | Be long and boring |
| 35% | DRAGGED | 7 | Was long and boring |
| 35% | ACROSS | 6 | Crossword clues can be down and this |
| 35% | PARADISELOST | 12 | John Milton epic, and a hint to how four long answers in this puzzle were formed |
| 35% | ATTN | 4 | This is for, for short |
| 35% | TERM | 4 | Life is a long one |
| 34% | NSEC | 4 | 10 of these is the half-life of lithium-12, for short |
| 34% | CABARET | 7 | Life is one of these, or so sang Liza Minnelli |