| 100% | FBI | 3 | Org. whose secret war with 18-Down is documented in the book Wedge |
| 41% | CIA | 3 | Org. whose covert ops are criticized in the book "Killing Hope" |
| 40% | BYU | 3 | Sch. whose in-state rivalry game with Utah is called the Holy War |
| 37% | {BUD}DHA | 8 | Figure whose reincarnations are documented in the Jātakas |
| 36% | BLACK | 5 | "___ Hawk Down," 2001 war film about the 1993 raid in Mogadishu by the U.S. military, whose music was composed by Hans Zimmer |
| 35% | AARP | 4 | Org. whose membership is open to anyone over the age of 18, surprisingly |
| 35% | ADA | 3 | Org. whose members look down in the mouth? |
| 35% | FAA | 3 | Org. whose agenda is up in the air? |
| 35% | FAA | 3 | Org. whose plans are up in the air? |
| 34% | KRANEPOOL | 9 | Ed whose entire 18-season career was with the Mets |
| 34% | MDA | 3 | Org. whose telethon was the first to be viewed globally via the internet in 1998 |
| 34% | REEVES | 6 | George whose main film debut was in "Gone With the Wind" |
| 34% | TCM | 3 | Channel whose first broadcast, in 1994, was “Gone with the Wind” |
| 33% | CDC | 3 | Org. that was the successor to the Office of Malaria Control in War Areas |
| 33% | DRONE | 5 | Male bee in a colony whose function is to mate with the queen |
| 33% | ANS | 3 | Org. that promotes the study of onomastics and whose annual conference is in SF next January |
| 33% | RODDY | 5 | With 32-Across, American rapper whose "The Box" was the #3 song on Spotify in 2020 |
| 33% | FIDELIO | 7 | Opera whose name is the password to the secret party in Eyes Wide Shut |
| 33% | ALISMITH | 8 | Author whose novel “Summer” is the final book in her Seasonal Quartet (August, 2020) |
| 33% | NICHELLENICHOLS | 15 | Actress whose work with NASA is the focus of the documentary “Woman in Motion” |
| 32% | SOLOMON | 7 | With 18-Across, free New York black man abducted into slavery whose true story is told in "12 Years a Slave" |
| 32% | SEGA | 4 | Company in the book "Console Wars" |
| 32% | THE | 3 | With 17-Down, org. in which traveling is illegal |
| 32% | SELLERS | 7 | Actor with the line "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!" |
| 32% | YAVIN | 5 | Planet whose fourth moon is the site of the main rebel base in Star Wars, 1977 |
| 32% | SHE | 3 | "___ Walks in Beauty," poem by Lord Byron with the line "...A heart whose love is innocent!" |
| 31% | BEN | 3 | With 22-Across, former senator whose name can be spelled using only the letters in NEBRASKA (his home state) |
| 31% | PURPLE | 6 | "Harold and the ___ Crayon," film adaptation of a children's book, whose release date is in 2023 |
| 31% | MABARKER | 8 | Midwest woman with four gangster sons who was gunned down by the FBI in 1935: 2 wds. |
| 31% | USCG | 4 | Org. whose academy's motto in English is "The sea yields to knowledge" |