| 100% | SHEL | 4 | Poet Silverstein who wrote the song "A Boy Named Sue" |
| 69% | SHEL | 4 | Poet Silverstein who wrote "A Boy Named Sue," made popular by Johnny Cash |
| 68% | SHEL | 4 | Silverstein who wrote the words and music for Johnny Cash's "A Boy Named Sue" |
| 60% | SHEL | 4 | Silverstein who wrote "A Boy Named Sue" |
| 49% | SHEL | 4 | Poet Silverstein who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends" |
| 49% | SUE | 3 | "A Boy Named ___" (Johnny Cash song written by Shel Silverstein) |
| 45% | SHEL | 4 | "A Boy Named Sue" writer Silverstein |
| 45% | SHEL | 4 | "A Boy Named Sue" songwriter Silverstein |
| 44% | POE | 3 | Poet who wrote the opening line "Once upon a midnight dreary ..." |
| 42% | ALEC | 4 | Guinness who wrote “My Name Escapes Me: The Diary of a Retiring Actor” |
| 42% | CAROLEKING | 10 | Frequent collaborator of 42-Across who wrote the song "You've Got a Friend" as a response to 18-Across (2 wds.) |
| 41% | POE | 3 | Poet who wrote the line "But we loved with a love that was more than love" |
| 41% | COHEN | 5 | Leonard who wrote the song "Hallelujah" |
| 41% | OTIS | 4 | Redding who wrote the song "Respect" |
| 41% | LADYANTEBELLUM | 14 | "American Honey" group who wrote a song in "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical": 2 wds. |
| 40% | SUE | 3 | "A Boy Named ___" (Johnny Cash hit written by Shel Silverstein) |
| 40% | SARA | 4 | Bareilles who wrote the songs for "Waitress" |
| 40% | JOHNLEGEND | 10 | "All of Me" singer who wrote a song in "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical": 2 wds. |
| 40% | RAES | 4 | Carson who wrote the Fire and Thorns Trilogy, a NYT best-seller, and poet Armantrout who penned "Versed", a Pulitzer winner |
| 40% | NEMEROV | 7 | Poet Howard who wrote "A Primer of the Daily Round" |
| 40% | WARSANSHIRE | 11 | Poet who wrote "no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark" |
| 39% | JOEL | 4 | Billy ___, singer-songwriter who wrote the song "Piano Man" |
| 39% | MIRANDA | 7 | Lin-Manuel who wrote the songs for 16-Across |
| 39% | SHEL | 4 | Silverstein who wrote "Where the Sidewalk Ends" |
| 39% | ADALIMON | 8 | Poet laureate who wrote The Hurting Kind |
| 39% | ELIOT | 5 | Poet who wrote "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" |
| 39% | BOB | 3 | ___ Seger, singer-songwriter who wrote the song "Turn the page" |
| 39% | ERIC | 4 | ___ Clapton, singer-songwriter who wrote the song "Believe in Life" |
| 39% | SMITH | 5 | Patti ___, singer and songwriter who wrote the song "Dancing Barefoot" |
| 39% | IRVINGBERLIN | 12 | Composer who wrote the songs for 17-Across (2 wds.) |