| 100% | AHAB | 4 | Mariner in a whale of a novel? |
| 64% | AHAB | 4 | Captain in a whale of a tale? |
| 58% | TWILIGHT | 8 | First book in a series of vampire novels by Stephenie Meyer |
| 58% | ENOLA | 5 | Sherlock Holmes's younger sister in a series of YA novels |
| 58% | KIRKDOUGLAS | 11 | "A Whale of a Tale" singer in a 1954 movie |
| 57% | THREE | 5 | Number of musketeers in a Dumas novel |
| 56% | ARMANDGAMACHE | 13 | Chief inspector in a series of mystery novels by Louise Penny (2 wds.) |
| 56% | KINGDOM | 7 | One of three in a classic Chen Shou novel |
| 56% | DRFUMANCHU | 10 | *Sinister genius in a series of Sax Rohmer novels |
| 56% | HARRYHOLE | 9 | Detective in a series of Jo Nesbø crime novels |
| 56% | UNCAS | 5 | Son of Chingachgook, in a Cooper novel |
| 55% | TESSMONAGHAN | 12 | Reporter-turned-investigator in a series of crime novels by 44-Across (2 wds.) |
| 55% | JONAH | 5 | He spent three days in the belly of a whale |
| 55% | LOLITA | 6 | Noted novel in the guise of a posthumously published memoir |
| 55% | TRASHIEST | 9 | In the poorest of taste, as a novel |
| 55% | DUNCES | 6 | A Confederacy of __, novel set in New Orleans |
| 54% | EYRE | 4 | "The ___ Affair" (murder mystery set in the universe of a Brontë novel) |
| 54% | SFPD | 4 | Employer of Detective Lindsay Boxer in a series of James Patterson novels |
| 54% | EVEDUNCAN | 9 | Forensic sculptor in a series of novels by Iris Johansen (2 wds.) |
| 53% | PLOT | 4 | Sequence of events in a novel or film |
| 53% | TESSMONAGHAN | 12 | Reporter-turned-investigator in a series of novels by 44-Across (2 wds.) |
| 53% | GANTRY | 6 | Last name of Elmer in a Sinclair Lewis novel |
| 53% | CASE | 4 | Word in the title of many a detective novel |
| 53% | UTTLEY | 6 | Alison —, author of 1939 novel A Traveller in Time |
| 53% | ALBUSDUMBLEDORE | 15 | School head in a best-selling series of novels |
| 52% | CRIBBEAN | 8 | James A. Michener novel about a chili morsel in a piece of nursery furniture? |
| 52% | ONDAATJE | 8 | Michael —, author of novels Anil’s Ghost and In the Skin of a Lion |
| 52% | ORCA | 4 | A kind of Killer Whale, which is Black and White in color |
| 52% | AHAB | 4 | Captain who chases a white whale, in a classic novel |
| 52% | MOTIVE | 6 | Part of a detective's theory in a whodunit novel |