| 100% | KAHN | 4 | Roger who wrote "A Season in the Sun" |
| 65% | WINTERED | 8 | Spent a season in the sun? |
| 57% | ISHIGURO | 8 | Author Kazuo who wrote “Klara and the Sun,” set in a dystopian future in which children are genetically engineered for academic excellence (March, 2021) |
| 55% | DUNNE | 5 | Dominick who wrote "A Season in Purgatory" |
| 54% | SUMMERS | 7 | Seasons in the sun |
| 52% | ALEC | 4 | Waugh who wrote "Island in the Sun" |
| 52% | BAIN | 4 | Donald who wrote a 1963 "memoir" seen in the first words of 17-, 30-, 46- and 60-Across |
| 52% | AGEE | 4 | James who wrote "A Death in the Family" |
| 52% | POE | 3 | Who wrote "It was many and many a year ago, / In a kingdom by the sea ..." |
| 52% | SUEGRAFTON | 10 | Mystery author who wrote the 2015 novel “X” (the twenty-fourth in a series) |
| 50% | AGEE | 4 | James ___ who wrote "A Death in the Family" |
| 50% | ERMA | 4 | Bombeck who wrote If Life Is a Bowl of Cherries, What Am I Doing in the Pits? |
| 50% | MCKUEN | 6 | Poet/lyricist who wrote the 1974 #1 hit "Seasons in the Sun" |
| 49% | EZRA | 4 | Pound who wrote "In a Station of the Metro" |
| 49% | EBERT | 5 | Roger who wrote "Life Itself: A Memoir" |
| 49% | HANSBERRY | 9 | A Raisin in the Sun playwright Lorraine |
| 49% | LADYANTEBELLUM | 14 | "American Honey" group who wrote a song in "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical": 2 wds. |
| 49% | FRANKIEMUNIZ | 12 | "Malcolm in the Middle" actor who was a finalist on season 25 of "Dancing with the Stars" (2 wds.) |
| 48% | HARRYKEMELMAN | 13 | Novelist who wrote "Friday the Rabbi Slept Late," a murder mystery set in a Jewish community in Massachusetts (2 wds.) |
| 48% | JOHNMALKOVICH | 13 | "Empire of the Sun" actor who plays Lucien Laurin, the trainer of 33-Across, in a 2010 film (2 wds.) |
| 48% | PHYLICIARASHAD | 14 | "A Raisin in the Sun" Tony-winning actress who plays Grandmother Journey in 33-Across (2 wds.) |
| 48% | TANS | 4 | Lies in the sun for a while |
| 48% | VELA | 4 | Carlos ___, Mexican soccer player who holds the MLS record for most goals in a single season |
| 47% | TANS | 4 | Lays out in the sun for a while |
| 47% | BASKING | 7 | Lying out in the sun, like a lizard |
| 47% | TANS | 4 | Lies in the sun on a beach, say |
| 47% | JOHNLEGEND | 10 | "All of Me" singer who wrote a song in "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical": 2 wds. |
| 47% | HAD | 3 | "....we ___ seasons in the sun but the hills that we climbed..." (Westlife lyrics) |
| 47% | BRYANCRANSTON | 13 | "Breaking Bad" actor who wrote the memoir "A Life in Parts" (2 wds.) |
| 47% | YOLK | 4 | The sun in a "sunny side up" |