| 100% | BACH | 4 | Who said "I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music" |
| 40% | ILSA | 4 | Film character who says "Kiss me as if it were the last time" |
| 40% | PRYOR | 5 | Comedian Richard who wrote "What I'm saying might be profane, but it's also profound" |
| 39% | ILSA | 4 | Classic movie character who says "Kiss me as if it were the last time" |
| 39% | ILSA | 4 | Character who says “Kiss me as if it were the last time” to Rick, in a 1942 film |
| 39% | ABSENCE | 7 | They say it makes the heart grow fonder, but I've also heard it makes the heart to wander |
| 38% | SLUR | 4 | In music, a curved line indicating that the notes in its limits be played smoothly, as one phrase |
| 37% | IAN | 3 | McKellen who once said, “Some fan attention is odd, but no odder than a cereal box with me as Magneto on it” |
| 35% | ENO | 3 | Brian who said ambient music "must be as ignorable as it is interesting" |
| 34% | MORRISON | 8 | Nobel laureate who said "If I tried to write a universal novel it would be water" |
| 34% | CELIE | 5 | Heroine from "The Color Purple" who said "I'm poor, Black, I may even be ugly, but dear God, I'm here! I'm here!" |
| 34% | BEE | 3 | Comedian Samantha who wrote the memoir "I Know I Am, But What Are You?" |
| 33% | TYSON | 5 | Cicely who wrote the 2021 memoir "Just As I Am" |
| 33% | KANE | 4 | Film title character who says, "If the headline is big enough, it makes the news big enough" |
| 33% | TYSON | 5 | Actress Cicely who wrote the 2021 memoir "Just As I Am" |
| 33% | JUDYBLUME | 9 | Novelist who wrote "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret" and the other three frequently banned books in this puzzle (2 wds.) |
| 33% | AHAB | 4 | Literary captain who says, "I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I'll go to it laughing" |
| 32% | CHE | 3 | Who said "The revolution is not an apple that falls when it is ripe. You have to make it fall" |
| 32% | HAVEL | 5 | President who said "If you want to see your plays performed the way you wrote them, become president" |
| 32% | MILNE | 5 | Children's author who wrote "People say nothing is impossible, but I do nothing every day" |
| 32% | SPOCK | 5 | TV character who said "Computers make excellent and efficient servants, but I have no wish to serve under them" |
| 32% | HAL | 3 | Film character who says menacingly "I think you know what the problem is just as well as I do" |
| 32% | CHALK | 5 | I am a teacher's best friend. I help them write on the blackboard. Who am I? |
| 32% | PROTOZOA | 8 | "Breaking up with a boyfriend is always hard. But as they say, there are more ___ in the lower intestine": The Far Side |
| 32% | ROD | 3 | I am a fisherman's best friend. I help them pull the fish once it's hooked. Who am I? |
| 32% | EMO | 3 | Comedian Philips who said, "A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kickboxing" |
| 32% | WATSON | 6 | To whom it is said "You have a grand gift for silence …. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion" |
| 32% | RBG | 3 | Initials of the person who said "Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you" |
| 31% | PROSPERO | 8 | Shakespearean character who says "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" |
| 31% | THEONETOTHEWESTOFHERE | 21 | "You caught me!," says the thief, who then admits: "The diamond isn't here in my room, but it's hidden in ___" |