| 100% | PRECURSOR | 9 | The story before a story; the one that came before |
| 56% | CHEM | 4 | One of the subjects that astronaut Story Musgrave has a degree in, for short |
| 56% | NUTCRACKER | 10 | "The ___," Tchaikovsky's Christmas ballet that follows the story of the titular toy soldier that comes alive and transforms into a Prince |
| 54% | PART | 4 | One of the things that a mereologist might study, providing they know the whole story, of course |
| 53% | ABOUTGRACE | 10 | 28-Across's debut novel, which tells the story of a man who dreams events that later come true (2 wds.) |
| 53% | ALADDIN | 7 | One of the stories of A Thousand And One Nights |
| 53% | EEL | 3 | The Abaia is a giant magical one that protects lakes |
| 52% | ANCESTOR | 8 | A family member that came before you |
| 51% | SRS | 3 | Ones who came before the juniors, for short |
| 51% | ANTI | 4 | A prefix that comes before "biotic" or "virus" |
| 51% | MENU | 4 | Carte that comes before the course |
| 51% | TAU | 3 | T that comes before a Y |
| 50% | STARTER | 7 | Dish that comes before the main course? |
| 50% | ALTO | 4 | A western concert flute that comes from the woodwind family |
| 50% | CELLAR | 6 | Salt __, glass dish that came before the shaker |
| 50% | RATA | 4 | Sound that comes before a couple of tats? |
| 50% | THEWORKS | 8 | All the options that come with a meal |
| 49% | ANTI | 4 | A prefix that usually comes before biotic |
| 49% | PEPTALK | 7 | A coach gives one before the game |
| 48% | VERSES | 6 | Parts of a song that come before or after choruses |
| 48% | IRISH | 5 | Nationality that comes before “wristwatch” in a classic tongue twister |
| 48% | BAA | 3 | Word repeated before "black sheep," in a nursery rhyme that may be one of the first poems you learned |
| 48% | NARY | 4 | What can come before a one |
| 48% | COMIC | 5 | Word that can come before book or strip, or a nickname of WWI's Sopwith Camel biplane, or one who will merely stand-up |
| 48% | DOT | 3 | Symbol that comes before "edu" or "gov" in a Web address |
| 48% | GREASE | 6 | You're the One That I Want comes from this musical |
| 47% | ROCKIGUANA | 10 | The Jamaican ___, a lizard that is one of the rarest creatures, and was declared extinct before being found again in 1970: 2 wds. |
| 47% | NYT | 3 | Pub. that predicted it would take one to 10 million years to invent a flying machine, two months before the first airplane flight |
| 47% | TALE | 4 | The story of the one that got away, e.g. |
| 47% | FLASHBACK | 9 | A book scene from before the start of the story |