| 100% | DING | 4 | Sound of a wrong answer at the National Spelling Bee |
| 44% | RAP | 3 | Sound of a knock at the door |
| 39% | XXXXX | 5 | Sound of touching glasses in a toast (and a hint to finding the contest answer) |
| 38% | BEEP | 4 | Sound at the end of a washing machine's cycle, say |
| 38% | APHERESIS | 9 | Loss of a sound at the start of a word, as "opossum" to "possum" |
| 38% | LAST | 4 | The __ word of the four longest answers spells a season ending soon |
| 38% | SCRIPPS | 7 | Publisher sponsoring the National Spelling Bee |
| 38% | HUM | 3 | Sound of a bee |
| 37% | QUEUE | 5 | Waiting line at the DMV... or a word that sounds like the first letter of 25a |
| 37% | ESPN | 4 | Annual airer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee |
| 36% | ESPN | 4 | Airer of the Scripps National Spelling Bee from 1994 to 2021 |
| 36% | HORN | 4 | Sound heard at the end of a period during basketball or hockey games |
| 36% | APOCOPE | 7 | Loss of sounds at the end of a word |
| 36% | HUM | 3 | Sound of a bunch of buzzing bees |
| 36% | RUSTLE | 6 | Sound of a willow in the wind |
| 36% | SPLAT | 5 | Sound of a melon hitting the ground |
| 36% | THUD | 4 | Sound of a sandbag hitting the ground |
| 36% | SPLAT | 5 | Sound of a tomato hitting the floor |
| 36% | ZAP | 3 | Sound of a mosquito biting the dust |
| 36% | THUD | 4 | Sound of a book hitting the floor |
| 36% | ROAR | 4 | Sound of a crowd or the ocean |
| 36% | ICECREAM | 8 | *Foundation ingredient of a treat built upward in the answers to starred clues and spelled downward in the circles |
| 36% | THUD | 4 | Sound of a book hitting the floor, say |
| 36% | SIDEOFFRIES | 11 | Order at a fast-food restaurant, and a hint to parts of the starred answers |
| 35% | WILDFLOWERS | 11 | Colorful elements of a meadow, and what can be found at the starts of the answers to the starred clues? |
| 35% | DROPCAP | 7 | Large letter at the beginning of a paragraph, and what you must do to make sense of each starred answer |
| 35% | DONUT | 5 | Treat whose varieties appear at the starts of four long answers and are represented a dozen times in this puzzle |
| 35% | SPLAT | 5 | Sound of a cupcake hitting the floor, frosting-first |
| 35% | POW | 3 | Sound of a punch, in the comics |
| 35% | RINGSIDE | 8 | Choice seating at a boxing match, and a hint to making sense of the peripheral answers |