| 100% | GAZE | 4 | Male ___ (subject of Laura Mulvey's "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema") |
| 35% | ARC | 3 | Story ___ (path of a character's narrative) |
| 33% | ASIDE | 5 | "Step ___ and watch how it's done!" (out of the way) |
| 32% | LABOR | 5 | Parts and ___ (components of a repair shop's bill) |
| 32% | | 0 | Subjects of Billy Joel's "The Downeaster 'Alexa'" and John Denver's "Calypso" |
| 30% | BANE | 4 | ___ of one's existence (biggest annoyance, and a word you'll find hidden within "urbane") |
| 30% | NONE | 4 | ___ of the above (questionnaire's "other" choice) |
| 29% | AMEN | 4 | "Goodbye, Farewell and ___" (last episode of "M*A*S*H") |
| 29% | HIRO | 4 | ___ Protagonist (of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash") |
| 29% | DADS | 4 | "My Two ___ and Me" (children's book) |
| 29% | CRY | 3 | "___ 'Havoc!', and let slip the dogs of war!" (Shakespeare line) |
| 29% | HRE | 3 | Charlemagne and Otto I's realm: Abbr. (anagram of "her") |
| 29% | JESU | 4 | "___, Joy of Man's Desiring" (Bach chorale) |
| 29% | TIBBAR | 6 | Visual representation of this puzzle's trick (go to 38-Down) |
| 28% | ALAS | 4 | "___ and alack" (words of regret) |
| 28% | BEEN | 4 | "I've ___ Everywhere" (Johnny Cash song featuring a list of cities and countries) |
| 28% | RED | 3 | "___ (Taylor's Version)," #1 album of 2021 |
| 28% | ELTON | 5 | Musician ___ John who's the subject of "Rocketman" |
| 28% | RUBIN | 5 | ___ Carter, boxer and subject of "The Hurricane" |
| 28% | SPIT | 4 | "Rinse and ___" (dentist's request) |
| 28% | GAZE | 4 | Male ___ (patriarchal mode of perception) |
| 28% | THEE | 4 | "She's ___ HOT GIRL and she's bringing ___ HEAT" (statement on the cover of the album Fever) |
| 28% | EXS | 3 | "___ and Oh's" (Elle King song) |
| 28% | USE | 3 | "It's of no ___!" (pointless) |
| 28% | RANT | 4 | "End of ___" (online diatribe's conclusion) |
| 28% | | 0 | "The ___ Begins" (Weird Al's "Star Wars" parody of "American Pie") |
| 28% | DORA | 4 | "___ and the Lost City of Gold" (live-action film based on a kids' cartoon) |
| 27% | OCEAN | 5 | Subject of David Attenborough's "Blue Planet" series |
| 27% | SHUT | 4 | "___ up!" ("That's enough out of you!") |
| 27% | AUNTY | 5 | "___ Donna's Big Ol' House of Fun" (2020 Netflix show) |