| 100% | OCASIO | 6 | With 13-Across, the "O" and "C" of the political world's A.O.C. |
| 53% | SHANGHAI | 8 | Chinese city with a busy port and host of the 2005 World Table Tennis Championships Finals |
| 52% | LEFTRIGHT | 9 | With 64-Across, the political spectrum, and a hint to this puzzle's theme |
| 52% | DRONGO | 6 | Songbird of the Old World tropics with a glossy black plumage and forked tail |
| 51% | GHOST | 5 | With 13 Across, chilis that are among the world's hottest |
| 50% | END | 3 | With 72-Across, evasive strategy ... and a hint to the last several letters of the four longest Across answers |
| 50% | TSTORMS | 7 | Weather events with lightning, briefly ... or a description of 1 and 13 Across |
| 50% | GWANGJU | 7 | South Korean city with a FIFA World Cup Stadium, and host of the 2019 FINA World Aquatics Championships |
| 48% | OSCAR | 5 | (With 13-Across) "My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death. One or the other of us has to go" |
| 48% | CRIME | 5 | With 65-Across, investigation site, and a punny description of the HEIST answers |
| 47% | STICKY | 6 | With 58-Across, predicament, and a description of both halves of the starred answers |
| 47% | DARK | 4 | With 37-Across, fall of Rome aftermath, and a hint to the puzzle theme |
| 47% | GOBLIN | 6 | With 13-Across, Oxford's 2022 Word of the Year |
| 47% | PANDORA | 7 | Greek woman with a box of the world's evil |
| 47% | ELEMENT | 7 | With 62-Across, a key component of any good prank, and a hint to the beginnings of the prankster's tools herein |
| 47% | ERICA | 5 | Woman's name that rhymes with a part of the world |
| 46% | CLARITY | 7 | One of the four C's of diamonds (along with cut, color, and carat) |
| 46% | TRADITIONAL | 11 | With 49- and 69-Across, a hint to the meanings of the bracketed clues |
| 46% | GROWING | 7 | With 41 Across, gradually-apparent problem ... and an explanation of the puzzle's circles? |
| 46% | SEPARATE | 8 | With 68-Across, 1958 David Niven film, and a feature of the starred answers |
| 46% | SKIPPING | 8 | With 59-Across, lakeside activity ... or a hint to the words spelled across the fifth, eighth and 11th rows of the completed grid |
| 46% | DONTBIGEMPTY | 12 | With 45 Across, a query put to Bob Hope in 1939's The Cat and the Canary |
| 46% | BETWEEN | 7 | With 39-Across, a description of the answers inside 17-, 24-, 49- and 60-Across |
| 46% | WOOWOOWOO | 9 | With 80 Across, what it's like after a meeting of the Curly Fan Club? |
| 46% | FULL | 4 | With 66-Across, back to the beginning ... or a description of 21- and 48-Down? |
| 46% | DYLANDREILING | 13 | 19-Across outfielder who had a .341 season batting average and was named MVP of the 2024 Men's College World Series (2 wds.) |
| 46% | BEZOS | 5 | The world's richest person, with a net worth of over $125 billion |
| 45% | TURTLEDOVE | 10 | Old World bird with a brown plumage and speckled wings associated with song The Twelve Days of Christmas |
| 45% | AUGMENTED | 9 | With 50-Across, category of games that provide a layer on top of the physical world |
| 45% | WHERETHE | 8 | With 43-Across, an exciting place, and a hint to the starts of the starred answers |