| 100% | EMIRS | 5 | Title of Nigeria's Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, at least until he was dethroned in March of this year by Governor Abdullahi Ganduje |
| 28% | VSOP | 4 | Type of Remy Martin bottling that's been sitting in casks for at least four years |
| 27% | ION | 3 | The last of these Saturn passenger cars was built in March 2007 at GM's Spring Hill, TN, assembly plant |
| 27% | KEATON | 6 | Better known surname of actor Michael John Douglas, who was in "Worth" shown at this year's Sundance Film Festival |
| 26% | INKS | 4 | At least seven of these were used by the monks that created the Book of Kells |
| 26% | AMBASSADOR | 10 | Todd C. Chapman assumed this office in Brasilia at the end of March this year |
| 26% | NIK | 3 | Erendira's husband who walked across the Masaya Volcano in Nicaragua on a high wire in March of this year |
| 25% | OUST | 4 | What the president did to Mick Mulvaney in March of this year |
| 25% | SGT | 3 | Robert Rudolph Remus, WWE Hall of Famer, should be addressed, in his wrestling persona, by this military title (abbr.) |
| 24% | CLEM | 4 | Alt-country band "___ Snide" who released the album "Forever Just Beyond" in March of this year |
| 24% | NSF | 3 | France Cordova, once president of Purdue University, was director of this US govt. agency from 2014 until March of this year |
| 24% | BROOKLYN | 8 | Bernie Sanders was captain of the track team at James Madison H. S. in this NY borough |
| 24% | TSELIOT | 7 | He's commemorated by a stone at Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey that reads "the communication of the dead is tongued with fire beyond the language of the living" |
| 24% | WEAPON | 6 | The "what" of a Clue accusation, whose identity is hinted at by the three circled answers in this quadrant |
| 24% | ROOM | 4 | The "where" of a Clue accusation, whose identity is hinted at by the three circled answers in this quadrant |
| 24% | SUSPECT | 7 | The "who" of a Clue accusation, whose identity is hinted at by the three circled answers in this quadrant |
| 23% | OCEAN | 5 | In June of this year NASA reported that exoplanets with one of these may actually be quite common |
| 23% | CEL | 3 | In 1989 one of these from the movie "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" was sold at Sotheby's for $50,600 |
| 23% | MCMIII | 6 | "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" was published in this year |
| 23% | DAYS | 4 | There are around 365 of these in a year |
| 23% | ASHRAM | 6 | In the Mahabharata, it's stated that a youthful Krishna was sent to see Sand?pan? Muni at one of these |
| 23% | MEGAPIXEL | 9 | Good DSLR cameras are usually at least 15 of these |
| 23% | QUEEN | 5 | Zewditu was the last of these in Ethiopia, until 1930 |
| 23% | INFECTION | 9 | Invaders were killed by this in War of the Worlds |
| 23% | TEXAS | 5 | ___ Longhorns, Kevin Durant's college basketball team where he was named the National Player of the Year in 2006 |
| 22% | RENAS | 5 | Bitter who was the Ambassador to Laos until this year and Sofer who starred in TV's "Always and Forever" |
| 22% | BOX | 3 | Container (and, in a way, what you will find outlined by this year's clues related to the mega-meta) |
| 22% | IONESCU | 7 | Sabrina ___, selected by the WNBA NY Liberty as the first overall pick in the draft in April of this year |
| 22% | STEPHENCOLBERT | 14 | Author of a satirical book whose title consists of five U.S. state abbreviations (and is hidden in this puzzle) |
| 22% | CAVEANIMAL | 10 | U.S.A. ___ of the Year (award given to the little brown bat by the National Speleological Society, in 2022) |