| 100% | HEINE | 5 | Poet whose last words were "Of course [God] will forgive me; that's his business" |
| 39% | ROMEO | 5 | Whose last words are "Thus with a kiss I die" |
| 38% | EBWHITE | 7 | Author whose last name's first letter, followed by the two initials that precede his last name, form a word in one of his most famous titles |
| 37% | AHAB | 4 | Literary captain whose last words are "Thus, I give up the spear!" |
| 37% | CAPTAINAHAB | 11 | His last words were "Thus, I give up the spear!" |
| 37% | ROMEO | 5 | His last words were "Thus with a kiss I die" |
| 36% | NERO | 4 | His last words were "What an artist the world is losing in me!" |
| 36% | NERO | 4 | His last words were, “What an artist the world is losing in me!” |
| 35% | DEGAS | 5 | Painter Edgar whose last name is one letter away from being an anagram of his first name |
| 35% | NEMO | 4 | Seaman whose last words were "God and my country!" |
| 35% | ISTHISLOVE | 10 | 1978 Bob Marley hit whose title words are sung four times before "... that I'm feelin'" |
| 34% | ASSONANCE | 9 | Attribute of poet's lines/Whose final words are not quite rhymes |
| 34% | POOR | 4 | Start of a word ladder whose first and last words are suggested by 36-Across |
| 34% | RIPTORN | 7 | Entertainer whose last name is the past tense of a synonym of his first name |
| 33% | LADO | 4 | Director Aldo whose first name is an anagram of his last name |
| 33% | ARES | 4 | God whose name is an anagram of his sister Ersa |
| 33% | KRIS | 4 | Singer whose first name is the first four letters of his last name |
| 33% | BLIMEY | 6 | Word of surprise that would be expressed by 28a in London? |
| 33% | IAGO | 4 | Shakespeare villain whose last words are "Demand me nothing; what you know, you know. / From this time forth I never will speak word." |
| 33% | QAT | 3 | Principal god of Banks Islanders in Vanuatu whose father was a stone that exploded |
| 32% | AUDEN | 5 | Poet whose last work was "Thank You, Fog" |
| 32% | REVELATION | 10 | Book whose last word is "Amen" |
| 32% | OLIVERREED | 10 | Actor whose first name is the title of a Best Picture he co-starred in, and whose last name is that film's director |
| 32% | ALDA | 4 | Actor whose last name is a 41-Down of his first name, after a D is changed to an N |
| 32% | SLAIN | 5 | "O, I am ___!" (Polonius's last words) |
| 32% | KANE | 4 | Film character whose last word was "Rosebud" |
| 32% | HEREKITTY | 9 | Summons whose last word is often repeated |
| 32% | TROUPES | 7 | Word that would seem to be a portmanteau of "traveling groups," but isn't |
| 32% | JUDYBLUME | 9 | Author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret |