| 100% | PASSMARK | 8 | Score needed to succeed in a test or exam |
| 54% | ACES | 4 | Succeeds in a test or mission |
| 41% | SHUTOUT | 7 | In baseball or ice hockey, a game where the losing side fails to score |
| 41% | ACED | 4 | Smashed it in a test or tennis serve |
| 40% | BIRDIE | 6 | Something needed to play the game depicted in this puzzle ... or a hint to the six circled answers |
| 39% | THELONG | 7 | With 63-Across, all that needs to be said, or a hint to what's found in each starred answer |
| 39% | ASSIST | 6 | To help, or a goal-scoring pass in soccer |
| 39% | ACE | 3 | Perfect score in tennis or a test |
| 38% | PASSINGTHEBAR | 13 | Succeeding in a pole vault, or showing competence in legal knowledge |
| 38% | MASH | 4 | Need to make wort, in a brewery |
| 37% | SWORE | 5 | Needed to put money in a jar, perhaps |
| 37% | TWO | 3 | Number needed to tango, in a saying |
| 37% | GOAL | 4 | Score in a soccer or hockey game |
| 36% | MEDICALLY | 9 | In a way related to treatment of illness or injury |
| 36% | EAT | 3 | What to do in a trattoria or brasserie |
| 36% | HAYSTACK | 8 | Needle in a __, or something difficult to find |
| 36% | OSSIA | 5 | Or, in a musical score |
| 36% | CORNERKICKS | 11 | Goal-scoring opportunities in soccer ... or a hint to this puzzle's theme |
| 36% | FINALSWEEK | 10 | Period for taking exams ... or a hint to the pattern shown in the last three or four letters of the asterisked answers |
| 36% | TOXICDOSE | 9 | Amount needed to produce a harmful effect, in medicine |
| 36% | FUNHOUSE | 8 | Building in a funfair made to startle or amuse |
| 36% | INWARDLY | 8 | Where to look in a self exam |
| 36% | TOUCHDOWN | 9 | A way to score in American football |
| 35% | MAKEYOURWAY | 11 | With 26-Down, how to succeed in business, and a hint to this puzzle |
| 35% | AIM | 3 | Talent needed to hit a bull's-eye in darts |
| 35% | ORE | 3 | Resource needed to build a city in the game Catan |
| 35% | TMI | 3 | "Not something I needed to know," in a text |
| 35% | OIL | 3 | Liquid that needs to be changed regularly in a car |
| 35% | WHEEL | 5 | There's no need to reinvent it, in a saying |
| 35% | RACKUP | 6 | To score in a match; accomplish |