| 100% | THEHURTLOCKER | 13 | Oscar-winning film whose Oscar-winning director is spelled out by the letters cutting the circled Oscar-winning directors |
| 50% | RINGO | 5 | Rock star whose name is spelled out by the middle letters of 16-, 18-, 39-, 61- and 64-Across |
| 49% | ARMORYSHOW | 10 | Event at which the work spelled out by the circled letters was first exhibited in America |
| 48% | TARA | 4 | Author Westover whose memoir is spelled out in the first letters of this puzzle's eight circled schools |
| 45% | AVANTGARDE | 10 | Like the work spelled out by the circled letters |
| 43% | STLOUISMISSOURI | 15 | City with a landmark spelled out by the circled letters, reading left to right |
| 43% | BADGUY | 6 | Hit song by the 1-Across winner whose name is spelled out by the final three letters of 21-, 25-, 47- and 52-Across |
| 42% | HAND | 4 | Poker holding ... like the one spelled out in the letters that cut this puzzle's circled cards |
| 40% | LATENESS | 8 | Result of pushing things back, and what's spelled out by eight letters that have been literally pushed to the back |
| 39% | PLOT | 4 | What's spelled out, appropriately, after mapping the coordinates indicated by this puzzle's circled letters |
| 38% | NATURAL | 7 | With 39-Across, subject of study represented literally by the words spelled out by this puzzle's circled letters |
| 37% | LLAMA | 5 | Mammal whose name is spelled using only the letters of "mammal" |
| 37% | YMCA | 4 | Village People song whose title is spelled out in the lyrics |
| 37% | RESPECT | 7 | #1 song hit whose title is spelled out in the lyrics |
| 37% | RESPECT | 7 | 1967 #1 hit whose title is spelled out in the lyric |
| 37% | GLORIA | 6 | Van Morrison song whose title is spelled out in the chorus |
| 37% | INFANT | 6 | One delivered by the labor specialist spelled out in the circled letters that touch six dividing black squares in this puzzle |
| 37% | YMCA | 4 | Village People hit whose letters are spelled out |
| 36% | PHONETIC | 8 | Apt word spelled out by the first letters of eight answers in this puzzle |
| 36% | LONGFELLOW | 10 | Author of an 1841 poem that contains the line spelled out by the circled squares |
| 36% | CHRISTMASEVE | 12 | Apt phrase spelled out by the first letters of the answers to the starred clues |
| 35% | JOELCOEN | 8 | Oscar-winning writer/director whose first film project without his brother is "The Tragedy of Macbeth" (2 wds.) |
| 35% | TOYS | 4 | Plush items that might utter the phrase spelled by the letters between the pairs of circles |
| 35% | FEYNMAN | 7 | Nobel-winning physicist Richard, whose life is portrayed by Matthew Broderick in the 1996 film "Infinity" |
| 35% | ROMA | 4 | 2018 film directed by the Academy Award-winning director Alfonso Cuaron that is set in Mexico city |
| 35% | WHATSMYNAME | 11 | Fairy tale question whose answer is spelled out in the starts of 18-, 24-, 40- and 51-Across |
| 35% | HOTTOGO | 7 | Chappell Roan song whose title is spelled out before the lyric "Snap and clap and touch your toes" |
| 34% | JANECAMPION | 11 | New Zealand-born director whose 1993 film "The Piano" won three Oscars: 2 wds. |
| 34% | BEN | 3 | With 22-Across, former senator whose name can be spelled using only the letters in NEBRASKA (his home state) |
| 34% | PHYSICS | 7 | Science that deals with the phenomenon spelled out by 10 missing letters in this puzzle |