| 100% | HOWTOWINFRIENDS | 15 | With 37- and 61-Across, a 1936 title |
| 62% | IFYOUCHOKE | 10 | With 37- and 67-Across, a question |
| 62% | IWONDERWHERETHE | 15 | With 37- and 38-Across, a musing |
| 62% | IALWAYSTHOUGHTI | 15 | With 37- and 60-Across, a musing |
| 62% | EVERYSPRING | 11 | With 37- and 64-Across, a seasonal observation |
| 62% | PASTPERFORMANCE | 15 | With 37- and 57-Across, a common warning |
| 61% | DREAMSARE | 9 | With 36 Across and 61 Across, a quote by Lupita Nyong'o |
| 58% | LETITSNOW | 9 | With 37-Across and 37-Across, a holiday song |
| 56% | THEYLIVED | 9 | With 37-Across, and 59-Across, a familiar finale |
| 54% | SECRET | 6 | With 37-Across, Election Day practice ... and a hint to this puzzle's theme |
| 54% | DARK | 4 | With 37-Across, fall of Rome aftermath, and a hint to the puzzle theme |
| 54% | THENEW | 6 | With 37 Across, alternate puzzle title |
| 53% | ODDS | 4 | With 37- Across and 44-Down, miscellany |
| 53% | HEAD | 4 | With 37-Across, hair accessory ... or a literal hint to 19-, 27-, 47- and 56-Across |
| 53% | WHEELOF | 7 | With 37-Across, card in a tarot deck, and a hint to each circled letter set |
| 53% | YOUR | 4 | With 37- and 39-Across, book and TV series on human evolution, and a hint to the circled letters |
| 53% | SHIFT | 5 | With 61-Across, a possible title for this puzzle |
| 52% | TILTA | 5 | With 37-Across, spinning amusement ride, and a hint to this puzzle's design and circled letters |
| 52% | DELLA | 5 | With 37-Across, "Touched by an Angel" actress who played a landlady on "Chico and the Man" |
| 52% | MAIL | 4 | With 37-Across, perform perfunctorily … or a hint to the ends of 16-, 25-, 41- and 55-Across |
| 51% | HELPMEOBI | 9 | With 61- and 37-Across, famous line by 53-Across in [see circled letters] |
| 51% | FASHION | 7 | With 37-Across, up on the latest trends, and a fitting description of the answers to the starred clues? |
| 51% | SIGNONTHE | 9 | With 60-Across, ink a contract ... or a feature of 17-, 25- and 37-Across |
| 50% | MEDICAL | 7 | With 37 Across, health-care jobs of 19 and 49 Across |
| 50% | BANANA | 6 | With 37-Across, some ice cream confections … or a hint to the second, fifth, eleventh and fourteenth rows of this puzzle |
| 49% | ADDAMS | 6 | With 27-Across and 37-Across, Anjelica Huston/Raúl Juliá film with a first Thanksgiving reenactment scene |
| 49% | BORNWITHA | 9 | With 37- and 50-Across, privileged |
| 49% | CAPTAIN | 7 | With 37-Across, title for the hidden individuals in 16-, 23-, 46-, and 58-Across, thanks to the circles in each answer? |
| 49% | QUE | 3 | With 61-Down, start of a 1956 song title |
| 48% | BUTDOCTOR | 9 | With 14 and 19 Across, punchline of a joke about a clown |