| 100% | ARMATURE | 8 | Metal skeleton around which a clay model is built |
| 36% | ORE | 3 | Material from which a metal can be extracted |
| 36% | TVDRAMA | 7 | Something that might be built around a police station |
| 36% | SCAFFOLD | 8 | Metal framework around a house being renovated |
| 36% | ORE | 3 | A rock from which metals are extracted |
| 35% | ORE | 3 | A natural resource from which metals are obtained |
| 35% | ORE | 3 | Naturally occurring material from which a valuable metal could be extracted |
| 35% | SPEC | 4 | Shaky ground on which a house might be built? |
| 34% | TIN | 3 | Malleable metal which is a bronze component |
| 34% | SHOTPUT | 7 | Olympic event in which a large metal ball is thrown: 2 wds. |
| 32% | SKEET | 5 | Sport in which a shotgun is used to shoot at clay targets thrown into the air |
| 31% | SCIENTIST | 9 | "The ___," Coldplay song that is built around a piano ballad and reached No. 10 on the UK Charts |
| 31% | TOSCALE | 7 | How architects' models are built |
| 31% | AXIS | 4 | Line around which a planet rotates |
| 30% | MATERIALS | 9 | Substances out of which a thing can be made or built |
| 30% | AXIS | 4 | Imaginary line around which a planet rotates |
| 30% | FULCRUM | 7 | The pivot around which a lever turns |
| 30% | JACK | 4 | "Cracker ___," song by Dolly Parton which is about a dog with a spot around its eye |
| 30% | QUOITS | 6 | Game in which rings of metal or rope are tossed at a stake in the ground |
| 30% | DOTTEDTHESHORE | 14 | Were built at a beachfront |
| 29% | TOSCALE | 7 | How models are often built |
| 29% | MCLACHLAN | 9 | Sarah __ is Building a Mystery |
| 29% | WHOLE | 5 | Still in one piece, which is a miracle if you drop your model of a flamingo carved in chocolate |
| 28% | DOWN | 4 | System of a ___, Armenian-American heavy metal band that was formed in California which had the hit song "Hypnotize" |
| 28% | ALLOW | 5 | Let wall be built around nothing |
| 28% | OASIS | 5 | Las Vegas was built around one |
| 28% | TITULAR | 7 | From which a name is taken |
| 28% | TRYON | 5 | Be a model for |
| 28% | SAT | 3 | Was a model, perhaps |
| 28% | SPOOL | 5 | Small item around which thread is wound |