| 100% | PATRICK | 7 | With 38-Across, second African American quarterback to be named 44-Across, in 2020 |
| 70% | DOUGWILLIAMS | 12 | First African American quarterback to be named 44-Across, in 1988: 2 wds. |
| 44% | NO | 2 | With 38-Across, what a two-letter answer is in a crossword, usually ... or a hint to 20-, 24-, 44- and 51-Across |
| 39% | RODDY | 5 | With 32-Across, American rapper whose "The Box" was the #3 song on Spotify in 2020 |
| 37% | MEGANTHEE | 9 | With 43-Across, "Savage" rapper who was named a Revlon Global Brand Ambassador in 2020: 2 wds. |
| 37% | THOMAS | 6 | With 65 Across, the first to see his name ''up in lights'' (1881) |
| 37% | LAUREN | 6 | With 33-Across, "Good Girls" actress and comedian who won $500,000 for charity on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" in 2020 |
| 36% | MARCO | 5 | With 74 Across, explorer whose name is shouted in a pool |
| 36% | NANCY | 5 | With 44-Across, golfer who was named both LPGA Rookie of the Year and LPGA Player of the Year in 1978 |
| 34% | DOJACAT | 7 | 13-Across, 19-Across, and 38-Across singer who was named New Artist of the Year at the 2020 American Music Awards (2 wds.) |
| 34% | NAOMI | 5 | With 37-Across, first Japanese tennis player to be ranked No. 1 in the world |
| 33% | HALF | 4 | With 38- and 40-Across, grocery purchase ... or what can be found in some other Across answers in this puzzle |
| 33% | THE | 3 | With 64-Across, bad thing to be caught in |
| 33% | SASHA | 5 | ___ Banks, American professional wrestler who was named Wrestler of the Year by Sports Illustrated in 2020 |
| 33% | PYGMYSHREW | 10 | The American ___, a creature believed to be the second smallest mammal in the world: 2 wds. |
| 33% | AXIS | 4 | Name given to the countries who allied with Germany in the Second World War |
| 33% | FAYETTEVILLE | 12 | Where Senator Hiram Rhodes Revels, first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress, was born |
| 32% | THURGOOD | 8 | With 38-Across, first African-American Supreme Court justice |
| 32% | BARBARA | 7 | ___ A. Williams, American radio astronomer who was the first African-American woman to gain a PhD in Astronomy |
| 32% | INASCRABBLEGAME | 15 | With 30- and 49-Across, test question to be answered by filling in the correct circle |
| 32% | JALEN | 5 | With 33-Across, Eagles quarterback who was named MVP of the 2025 Super Bowl |
| 32% | ETHELHHO/WATERS | 15 | The second African-American, after Hattie McDaniel, to be nominated for an Oscar |
| 32% | ALYSSA | 6 | With 30-Across, "Mistresses" actress who was named a UNICEF Ambassador in 2003 |
| 32% | THE | 3 | With 18-Across, TV program to be hosted by James Corden in 2015 |
| 32% | ETHELWATERS | 11 | Harlem Renaissance singer and actress who was the first African American to star in her own TV show: 2 wds. |
| 32% | WHEREDIDWEGO | 12 | With 38 Across, 57 Across' lament in 46 Across |
| 31% | OVERHEELS | 9 | To be head __ in love with someone |
| 31% | ROOSTER | 7 | With 38-Across, 1975 Katharine Hepburn/John Wayne western that was a sequel to "True Grit" |
| 31% | DOVE | 4 | Rita who was the second African-American to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| 31% | GOOGLE | 6 | American technology company of Play Store fame which is the second most valuable brand according to Forbes in 2019 |