| 100% | SIDEPOCKET | 10 | Start of 67-Across or end of 72-Across, literally |
| 50% | ALPHA | 5 | Start or end of the Greek spelling of "Athena" |
| 50% | DAILY | 5 | With 72-Across, the end of 20-, 37-, 44- or 59-Across |
| 48% | PUNCHESTHECLOCK | 15 | Starts or ends a day of drudgery |
| 48% | DRAW | 4 | Start of a tournament ... or the end of a match? |
| 47% | TLDR | 4 | Acronym at the start or end of a wordy online post |
| 47% | AFFIX | 5 | Add-on to the start or end of a word stem (as in 17-, 25-, 35-, 49- and 57-Across) |
| 47% | SWAT | 4 | End of a fly? ... or the start of one? |
| 47% | SOMETHINGWICKED | 15 | Start of a Ray Bradbury title ... or a hint to the ends of 17-, 26-, 49- and 62-Across |
| 46% | CUETHEMUSIC | 11 | Instruction to start playing ... or a hint to the end of 18-, 24-, 49- and 56-Across |
| 46% | GODOWNSWINGING | 14 | Fight to the bitter end ... or a hint to the starts of 20-, 32- and 40-Across |
| 46% | III | 3 | The third ... or a hint to the rhyming ends of every Across answer |
| 46% | SHIFTEVERYLETTERONE | 19 | Start of instructions for making sense of 67-Across |
| 45% | TAMES | 5 | Breaks ... or an anagram of the ends of five Across answers in this puzzle |
| 45% | RING | 4 | Bell ___, loud chiming sound that signals the start or end of a round in boxing |
| 44% | ROLL | 4 | With 44- and 76-Across, way to put legislators on record ... or the start, middle and end of a word ladder |
| 44% | RISEFROM | 8 | With 97-Across, emerge reborn ... or what the ends of five Across answers in this puzzle do? |
| 43% | WERELIVINGINAN | 14 | Start of a quip by 67-Across |
| 42% | TACOTOPPING | 11 | The start of 17-Across or 11- or 33-Down |
| 42% | CIVILWARGENERAL | 15 | End of 17-, 23-, 50- or 61-Across |
| 42% | BOTTOMSHEET | 11 | Bed cover ... or, literally, what the end of each answer to a starred clue is |
| 42% | TRAILHEADS | 10 | Hikers' starting points ... or what the ends of the answers to starred clues can be? |
| 42% | HEE | 3 | Start of a bray or conclusion of a giggle |
| 41% | EDU | 3 | End of 34 Across' URL |
| 41% | SICK | 4 | Start of a "recuperative" word ladder ending at 73-Across |
| 41% | DOH | 3 | Cry from Homer … or a phonetic hint to the ends of 18-, 27-, 48- and 62- Across |
| 40% | ELKS | 4 | Relatives of 72 Across |
| 40% | LAW | 3 | Part of 72 Across |
| 40% | HEE | 3 | Beginning of a bray or end of a giggle |
| 40% | WITHINSIGHT | 11 | Visible ... or, literally, where most inner letters of this puzzle's eight other longest Across answers are situated |