| 100% | CHANGE | 6 | With 36- and 39-Across, go from 1- to 61-Across |
| 47% | THEEND | 6 | With 39-Across, doomsayer's assertion ... or a phonetic hint to 18-, 24-, 51- and 61-Across |
| 46% | DREAMSARE | 9 | With 36 Across and 61 Across, a quote by Lupita Nyong'o |
| 46% | CHOU | 4 | With 52-Down, 39-Across leader from 1949 to 1976 |
| 45% | TOP | 3 | With 39-Across, refill to capacity ... or a hint to interpreting the clues at 17-, 27-, 46- and 61-Across |
| 45% | COUNTING | 8 | Going from 1 to 10 |
| 44% | WORDSPRONOUNCED | 15 | With 36- and 58-Across, what the answers to the starred clues are |
| 44% | NOTHINGTO | 9 | With 36 and 56 Across, so-so |
| 44% | HOS | 3 | Sounds from Santa (and what's been added to 17, 39, and 63 Across) |
| 43% | STATE | 5 | With 39 Across and 33 Down, what each syllable of the answer to each starred clue is |
| 43% | DIE | 3 | Go from 1% to 0%, say |
| 43% | BYE | 3 | With 38 and 39 Across, NSYNC hit of 2000 |
| 42% | BREVITYIS | 9 | With 24 and 15 Across, quote from "Hamlet" |
| 42% | ITWASTHEBEST | 12 | With 36 and 57 Across, ''A Tale of Two Cities'' beginning |
| 41% | ABOOKMUSTBE | 11 | With 31-, 46- and 61-Across, comment from Franz Kafka |
| 41% | SIR | 3 | With 39-Across and 58-Down, response to a military command |
| 41% | DOUBLESPACES | 12 | Goes from walk to trot and trot to gallop? |
| 40% | REVENUE | 7 | With 39 Across, income distribution to partners |
| 40% | SPLIT | 5 | With 41- and 45-Across, go Dutch, or what the answers to the starred clues do? |
| 40% | JACKSON | 7 | With 21-Across, artist known to 39-Across pigments back and forth onto canvases |
| 40% | FOILMETHOD | 10 | Technique used to multiply (x+4)(x-5), with the first words of 17-, 25-, 36-, and 44 Across making up its mnemonic |
| 40% | ABBA | 4 | Pop group with the hits 17-, 39- and 61-Across |
| 40% | YOUR | 4 | With 37- and 39-Across, book and TV series on human evolution, and a hint to the circled letters |
| 40% | START | 5 | With 39-Across, advice from 29-Across on how to win a lifetime achievement award |
| 39% | DARTS | 5 | Pub game with a board numbered from 1 to 20 |
| 39% | THERES | 6 | With 36-Across, "This has strings attached," and a hint to the ends of the starred answers |
| 39% | FREDDY | 6 | Singer Fender with a 1975 hit that went to #1 on both the pop and country charts |
| 39% | MRIGGINSANDMISS | 15 | With 27-, 49- and 63-Across, the story behind 5-, 36-, 39- and 70-Across |
| 39% | GODSWAYOF | 9 | With 25-, 42- and 55-Across, a definition of 1-Across, according to Dennis Miller |
| 38% | SHIFTGEARS | 10 | Go from neutral to reverse ... and a hint to each set of circles |