| 100% | ERIECANAL | 9 | The Seneca Chief was the first to travel its full length |
| 80% | ERIECANAL | 9 | The Seneca Chief was the first vessel to travel its entire length |
| 47% | STATEDEPARTMENT | 15 | Thomas Jefferson was the first to lead it |
| 47% | MBA | 3 | Harvard was the first to offer it (1908) |
| 46% | TELEPHONE | 9 | Alexander Graham Bell was the first to patent it |
| 46% | IMAC | 4 | Apple device that was the first to employ its "i" prefix |
| 46% | SNL | 3 | Buck Henry was the first to host it five times, briefly |
| 45% | MILE | 4 | Roger Bannister was the first to run it in under four minutes |
| 45% | BLAZEATRAIL | 11 | Be the first to accomplish something (and do it spectacularly!) |
| 45% | NORTHWESTPASSAGE | 16 | The SS Manhattan was the first commercial ship to cross it |
| 43% | SAMESEXMARRIAGE | 15 | The Netherlands was the first country to legalize it |
| 43% | ONEPIN | 6 | It's often the first to be knocked over |
| 43% | SECRETBALLOT | 12 | Australia was the first country to implement it |
| 42% | LODESTONE | 9 | It was used to make the first compass |
| 42% | INC | 3 | Business magazine that, in 1981, was the first to feature Steve Jobs on its cover |
| 42% | CLARINET | 8 | Mozart was the first major composer to write specifically for it |
| 41% | ERNANI | 6 | Verdi work that was the first opera to be recorded in its entirety |
| 41% | PGA | 3 | Babe Zaharias was the first woman to compete on its tour, in brief |
| 40% | RADIO | 5 | It was used to play music for the first time in 1906 |
| 39% | COIN | 4 | Be the first to use |
| 39% | COIN | 4 | Be the first to say |
| 39% | WIN | 3 | Be the first to finish |
| 39% | MARCOPOLO | 9 | Venetian explorer, who is known to be the first to have detailed accounts of travel to, and about China: 2 wds. |
| 39% | YURIGAGARIN | 11 | Russian who was the first person to travel into space and orbit the earth (1961): 2 wds. |
| 39% | GOD | 3 | What each set of circled letters is, relative to the first word in its answer |
| 38% | FOOTING | 7 | First-__, be the first to cross the threshold |
| 38% | WON | 3 | Was the first to cross the finish line |
| 38% | WHO | 3 | It becomes another question when its first letter is moved to the end |
| 37% | COEDS | 5 | Oberlin was the first to accept them |
| 37% | MONGOLS | 7 | They were the first to destroy Baghdad |