| 100% | SAL | 3 | With 35-Across, a cleanser |
| 74% | CALLA | 5 | With 35-Across, a sign of spring |
| 71% | SNO | 3 | With 35-Across, a type of winter off-road vehicle |
| 68% | BILLY | 5 | With 35-Across, "Caribbean Queen" singer with a "watery" name |
| 67% | ROGER | 5 | With 59-Across, a 35-Down portrayer |
| 66% | HAM | 3 | With 35 Across, common lunchbox contents |
| 65% | MICHELLE | 8 | With 35-Across, a member of Destiny's Child, or an actress in "Brokeback Mountain" |
| 65% | JOHNNY | 6 | With 35-Across, third in a series of five TV personalities (1962-92) |
| 64% | GOODBYE | 7 | With 35-Across, 1969 film where Peter O'Toole played a stodgy Latin teacher |
| 64% | PAULA | 5 | With 35-Across, "Straight Up" singer who's a panelist on "The Masked Dancer" |
| 64% | JOAN | 4 | With 35-Across, "Diamonds & Rust" folk singer who received a 2020 Kennedy Center Honor |
| 63% | WHATISA | 7 | With 27- and 35-Across, a Halloween riddle |
| 63% | FLYING | 6 | With 35-Across, complete success ... or a hint to 18-, 23-, 46- and 51-Across |
| 63% | STAND | 5 | With 35-Across, 1961 solo hit by Ben E. King featured in a 1986 movie |
| 63% | SECRET | 6 | With 35-Across, anonymous voting method, and a hint to each set of circled letters |
| 62% | GRACE | 5 | With 35-Across, actress who starred with Cary Grant in Hitchcock's "To Catch a Thief" |
| 61% | MODERN | 6 | With 35-Across, sitcom set in California with a 2014 same-sex wedding between Cameron and Mitchell |
| 61% | STACY | 5 | With 35-Across, "Prison Break" actor who plays Adam's father Joe on "Man With a Plan" |
| 61% | SIXTEEN | 7 | With 35-Across, 1984 movie, written by John Hughes, whose title refers to a mostly forgotten birthday |
| 61% | ITSA | 4 | With 35-Down, a birth announcement |
| 61% | JAI | 3 | With 35-Down, a court game |
| 60% | BUT | 3 | With 75 Across, a gas |
| 59% | CALLMEBY | 8 | With 35-Across, subtitle of 15-Across that is also the title of a 2017 romance film: 3 wds. |
| 59% | ARIANA | 6 | With 35-Across, singer of "Bang Bang" who was a first-time Grammy nominee for Best Pop Vocal Album |
| 59% | ARIANA | 6 | With 35-Across, "Problem" singer featured on three songs in Billboard's top 10 during a week in 2014 |
| 59% | CANTWALKAND | 11 | With 35 and 56 Across, is quite uncoordinated |
| 59% | LIME | 4 | With 56 Across, a summer cooler |
| 59% | KEY | 3 | With 52 Across, a Florida attraction |
| 59% | RON | 3 | With 136 Across, a rum brand |
| 58% | SIC | 3 | Word with a 35-Across before and after it |