| 100% | PLINY | 5 | Roman writer who originated the phrase "with a grain of salt" |
| 54% | TERENCE | 7 | Roman writer who originated the phrase "Where there's life, there's hope" |
| 46% | ATE | 3 | Took something with a grain of salt, maybe |
| 45% | PEANUT | 6 | Take their words with a grain of salt: __ Gallery |
| 44% | ORSO | 4 | "___ they say" ("Take it with a grain of salt"): 2 wds. |
| 44% | SENECA | 6 | Roman philosopher who originated the phrase "What fools these mortals be" |
| 42% | SENECA | 6 | Roman who originated the phrase "What fools these mortals be" |
| 41% | CICERO | 6 | Roman who originated the phrase "While there's life, there's hope" |
| 39% | SPOONER | 7 | Rev. William who originated the phrase "a blushing crow" |
| 38% | JONBOIS | 7 | Sports writer who created 17776, a story about the future of football |
| 38% | NOVUS | 5 | With 46-Across, phrase on the back of a buck |
| 38% | LEWISCARROLL | 12 | Writer who was the source of all the words with asterisked clues in this puzzle |
| 37% | MCPHEE | 6 | Writer John who won a Pulitzer for "Annals of the Former World" |
| 36% | THOR | 4 | Superhero with a hammer who appeared in the first issue of the comic book "The Avengers" |
| 36% | HORACE | 6 | Poet who originated the phrase "harmony in discord" |
| 36% | OTIS | 4 | James who originated the phrase "Taxation without representation" |
| 36% | TERRA | 5 | Roman goddess who is a personification of the earth and is also called Mother Earth |
| 36% | OATES | 5 | Collaborator with a Hall of fame who's in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame |
| 36% | GERARD | 6 | With 32-Across, "300" actor who earned a law degree from the University of Glasgow |
| 36% | SALT | 4 | Take each of the starred answers with a grain of it |
| 36% | BYRON | 5 | The phrase "Truth is stranger than fiction" originated from Canto XIV of a poem of "immoral content" by this author |
| 35% | KANT | 4 | Writer who coined the phrase "categorical imperative" |
| 35% | DONNE | 5 | Poet who originated the phrase "For whom the bell tolls" |
| 35% | BYRON | 5 | Poet who originated the phrase "truth is stranger than fiction" |
| 35% | YEATS | 5 | Poet who originated the phrase "no country for old men" |
| 35% | IRAN | 4 | With whom the U.S. pulled out of a nuclear deal |
| 35% | NAST | 4 | Who originated the modern image of Santa Claus |
| 35% | COG | 3 | ___ in the machine, phrase associated with machines that means "small part of a large organization" |
| 35% | GRAHAMBELL | 10 | Inventor of the telephone Alexander, who had a love-hate relationship with mathematics: 2 wds. |
| 35% | DEREKHOUGH | 10 | "Dancing With the Stars" dancer who's a judge on "World of Dance": 2 wds. |