| 100% | ALTERNATE | 9 | What black and white squares do on a chessboard |
| 49% | BREAKINGBAD | 11 | #3 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time (as of 2016) ... and a hint to what the black squares are doing in four rows of this puzzle |
| 47% | BREAKDANCES | 11 | Street moves since the '70s ... and what the black squares on rows 3, 5, 11 and 13 do |
| 46% | BRAKEJOBS | 9 | Garage offerings, and a phonetic hint to what the black squares in rows 3, 5, 11 and 13 do |
| 46% | REFS | 4 | People wearing black and white on a sports field, for short |
| 44% | ORCA | 4 | What's black and white and a threat all over? |
| 41% | AREA | 4 | What do you get when you multiply length and breadth of a square? |
| 40% | KEYS | 4 | Black and white parts of a piano |
| 40% | COALTIT | 7 | Small European songbird with a black head and a white patch on the nape |
| 40% | SWIPERIGHT | 10 | Show interest on a dating app … or what 16-, 25-, 36- and 51-Across must do to be successful? |
| 39% | TIEBREAKER | 10 | Overtime round, e.g. ... and what a black square acts as for the circled words? |
| 39% | LAPWING | 7 | Black and white wading bird with tuft on head |
| 39% | BADGER | 6 | Black and white mammal that lives in a sett |
| 39% | ORCA | 4 | Black and white "whale" that is actually a dolphin |
| 38% | CODEBREAKER | 11 | Intelligence agency employee, and what a black square acts as in rows 3, 5, 8 and 11 |
| 38% | PUFFIN | 6 | Black and white seabird, similar to a penguin |
| 38% | QRCODE | 6 | Scannable black-and-white square … or a hint to 17-, 30-, 45- and 57-Across |
| 38% | BREAKRANKS | 10 | Deviate from one's group, and what the black squares in rows 3, 5, 8 and 11 do |
| 38% | QRCODE | 6 | Image made of black squares on a white background |
| 38% | KELLYLINK | 9 | "White Cat, Black Dog" author ... and what the circled squares represent? |
| 37% | HUMPBACK | 8 | __ whale, black and white, large hump on back |
| 37% | SIT | 3 | What you do on a chair |
| 37% | RUN | 3 | What sprinters do on a track |
| 37% | CHANGELANES | 11 | What you might do to pass on an Interstate ... or a phonetic hint to the starts of 18-, 28- and 50-Across |
| 37% | PARTINGSHOT | 11 | End of a testy exchange, and what can be found four times in this puzzle, thanks to four black squares |
| 37% | LAZE | 4 | What many do on a day off |
| 37% | MELT | 4 | What snow does on a warm day |
| 36% | SEPIA | 5 | Brown and white ink tone on a photograph |
| 36% | TRANSPRIDE | 10 | Slogan on a blue, pink and white pin |