| 100% | BAR | 3 | Set the ___ high (create a standard that's hard to reach) |
| 52% | SETTHEBARLOW | 12 | Establish a standard that's easy to reach |
| 44% | EASY | 4 | A street that's hard to find |
| 42% | LONDON | 6 | "It's ___ to a brick," idiom with the English capital that means "indicate with a high certainty" |
| 42% | RAISETHEBAR | 11 | Set a new standard, and a hint to the circled letters |
| 42% | STEEP | 5 | Like a mountain that's hard to climb |
| 42% | RARE | 4 | Like a gem that's hard to find |
| 42% | CRYPTIC | 7 | Like a message that's hard to understand |
| 42% | EERIE | 5 | Like a coincidence that's hard to explain |
| 41% | PEA | 3 | Vegetable that's hard to eat with a knife |
| 41% | CREAKY | 6 | Like a floor that's hard to tiptoe on |
| 41% | PEA | 3 | Vegetable that's hard to spear with a fork |
| 41% | PEA | 3 | Veggie that's hard to eat with a fork |
| 41% | PEA | 3 | Legume that's hard to eat with a fork |
| 40% | STORYMODE | 9 | Video game setting that allows a player to focus on the narrative |
| 40% | CUBE | 4 | "Ice" follower to give a drink cooler that sets in the freezer |
| 40% | PEA | 3 | Small vegetable that's hard to stab with a fork |
| 40% | TANGLY | 6 | Like hair that's hard to get a comb through |
| 40% | SRO | 3 | Like a show that's hard to get tickets for, in brief |
| 39% | BAR | 3 | Raise the ___ (set a higher standard) |
| 38% | DEEPWEB | 7 | Content that's hard for a search engine to access |
| 38% | GOESDARK | 8 | Becomes hard to reach, as a spy |
| 38% | SWORD | 5 | Weapon used for duels and adventures on the high seas that would be a great addition to your "Pirate" Halloween costume |
| 38% | HEAT | 4 | ___ wave, climate condition leading to high temperatures that is a proposed theory for the extinction of dinosaurs |
| 38% | TEAK | 4 | Plant whose name becomes that of a meat product when an s is added to the beginning |
| 37% | MINDBLOWN | 9 | "Wow, that's unbelievable!" and a clue to the circled letters |
| 37% | SSE | 3 | Direction that's down and a little to the right: Abbr. |
| 37% | DOCTOREDUP | 10 | Altered, in a way ... and a hint to the org. that helped create the answers to starred clues |
| 37% | SAND | 4 | Beach particles that Sam Raimi studied under a microscope to create the anti-hero of "Spider-Man 3" |
| 37% | SLIMSHADY | 9 | "The Real ___," Eminem's first song to reach number one in the U.K, with a video that parodied several real-life celebrities: 2 wds. |