| 100% | HAYSTACK | 8 | Tower of straw it's hard to find a needle in |
| 56% | ELBOWROOM | 9 | It's hard to find in a crowd |
| 46% | INERTGAS | 8 | It's hard to get a reaction out of it |
| 45% | HAYSTACKS | 9 | Farm heaps where it's hard to find needles |
| 45% | CLOVER | 6 | It's lucky to find a four-leaf one in the garden |
| 42% | HAYNEEDLESTACK | 14 | It's hard to find |
| 41% | HAYSTACK | 8 | Needle in a __, or something difficult to find |
| 40% | TENURED | 7 | Hard to let go of, in a way |
| 40% | STICKIER | 8 | Harder to let go of, in a way? |
| 39% | FOAL | 4 | It's hard to believe that Big Jake, now weighing about 2600 lbs, started out as this at a mere 240 lbs in 2001 |
| 39% | RECHARGE | 8 | To boost the battery of a device by plugging it in |
| 39% | ICE | 3 | It's hard to get a grip on |
| 39% | RUT | 3 | It's hard to get out of |
| 39% | WHITEELEPHANT | 13 | It's hard to get rid of |
| 38% | LEADINGQUESTION | 15 | It's designed to elicit a certain answer ... or where the end of 17-, 25- and 47-Across may be found |
| 38% | HITCHINGPOST | 12 | It may be found in front of a saloon |
| 38% | WALDO | 5 | Character who young readers tried to find in a series of books |
| 38% | MINUET | 6 | It's done in the form of an S or a Z |
| 38% | SEAT | 4 | It could be hard to find on a crowded bus |
| 38% | PUTITDOWN | 9 | It's hard to do this to a good book |
| 38% | SLIM | 4 | Like the odds of finding a needle in a haystack |
| 38% | CORNERSTONE | 11 | Place to find a date ... and any one of four in this puzzle (circled letters are hints) |
| 37% | ATM | 3 | It might be found in the corner of a corner store |
| 37% | RUT | 3 | Groove it's hard to get out of |
| 37% | ORAL | 4 | Kind of test it's hard to cheat on |
| 37% | DEADENDSTREET | 13 | Where it's hard to make a wrong turn |
| 37% | TOOTH | 5 | It's bad to get a hole in one |
| 37% | TONE | 4 | What's hard to read in a text |
| 37% | HAYHAYHAY | 9 | Place to find a needle, maybe |
| 36% | AMMO | 4 | It's found in a round |