| 100% | FLUE | 4 | Location for a fly and a flea, in a classic limerick |
| 42% | TORTOISE | 8 | Slow and steady competitor in a classic fable |
| 42% | SCHNEIDER | 9 | & 16D Prize for a race between seaplanes and flying boats won outright by the UK in 1931 |
| 41% | OINTMENT | 8 | Bad place for a fly, in a saying |
| 40% | ITHADTOBEYOU | 12 | Classic song about a soulmate … or a phonetic hint for repeated pairs of letters in 19-, 27- and 42-Across |
| 40% | NOMAN | 5 | For whom "time and tide wait," in a saying |
| 40% | REDREDROSE | 10 | Simile for "luve" in a classic poem |
| 39% | INATUB | 6 | "Rub-a-dub-dub" location, in a classic rhyme |
| 39% | WHO | 3 | First baseman in a classic Abbott and Costello routine |
| 39% | ELEMENTSOFSTYLE | 15 | Principles for good prose in a classic writing guide by Strunk & White … or a hint to the wardrobe assembled at 17-, 25-, 47- and 57-Across |
| 39% | TICK | 4 | Flea and ___ collar (accessory for a dog) |
| 39% | LAVA | 4 | What baking soda and vinegar simulate, in a classic science fair experiment |
| 39% | TEENIE | 6 | Adjective for a yellow bikini in a '60s kitsch classic |
| 39% | PANDA | 5 | One that "eats, shoots and leaves," in a classic joke |
| 39% | BASSALE | 7 | The "tan" in a classic black and tan beer cocktail |
| 39% | SHANE | 5 | Title role for Alan Ladd in a classic 1953 western |
| 38% | OUR | 3 | Preceder of "bodies" and "selves" in a classic book on women's health |
| 38% | RHYME | 5 | What the first, second and fifth lines in a limerick do |
| 38% | EPISODEI | 8 | Ironically, designation for the fourth film release in a classic sequence |
| 38% | PLAT | 4 | A rank in video games and short for platinum |
| 38% | AHAB | 4 | Captain for Ishmael and Queequeg, in a Melville novel |
| 38% | BERTHS | 6 | Designated locations for boats in a port |
| 38% | PESTS | 5 | Flea and fly, for two |
| 38% | RIGHTLYSO | 9 | For good reason, and a hint to five answers in this puzzle |
| 37% | FAZOOL | 6 | Rhyme for "drool" in a Dean Martin classic |
| 37% | INFERNO | 7 | First epic poem in a classic trilogy that also includes Purgatorio and Paradiso |
| 37% | ROPE | 4 | Object that appears to be cut and restored in a classic magic trick |
| 37% | SUM | 3 | 34, for each row, column and main diagonal in a 4x4 magic square |
| 37% | MAINE | 5 | Only state that went for both Biden and a Republican senator in 2020 |
| 37% | ELMST | 5 | Location in a Wes Craven horror film, for short (2 wds.) |