| 100% | NEW | 3 | With 40-Across, change of government |
| 64% | MICHAEL | 7 | With 40-Across, "King of Pop" |
| 63% | ANG | 3 | With 40-Across, "Life of Pi" director |
| 62% | GEORGE | 6 | With 40-Across, creator of 1-/56-Across |
| 62% | DALAI | 5 | With 40-Across, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism |
| 60% | XMARKS | 6 | With 40-Across, key to the "map" of this puzzle |
| 59% | JOAQUIN | 7 | With 40-Down, Oscar-nominated player of 17-Across |
| 58% | TUNA | 4 | With 40 Across, diner orders |
| 58% | HOUSE | 5 | With 40-Across, critic's positive review of a Fox medical drama? |
| 58% | MARGARET | 8 | With 65-Across, author of 40-Across |
| 57% | PATTI | 5 | With 40-Across, daughter of the 40th president who wrote "The Long Goodbye" |
| 57% | COUP | 4 | Change of government illegally or by force |
| 57% | SHRIMP | 6 | With 40 Across, seafood dish with garlic |
| 57% | INTWOWORDS | 10 | With 40 Across, Goldwyn's ''No way!'' |
| 56% | UNCLE | 5 | With 8-Across, personification of the U.S. government |
| 55% | EPA | 3 | Government organization with a Climate Change section of its website: Abbr. |
| 55% | MISTER | 6 | With 40 Across, Hanks' role in 17/64 Across |
| 55% | THEALIENAND | 11 | With 40 Across, historic rules for subduing UFO occupants? |
| 54% | ABRAHAM | 7 | With 40 Across, bearded VIP with a February 12th birthday |
| 54% | TRANSFER | 8 | With 119 Across, one changing schools ... and what you must do between seven pairs of schools in this puzzle |
| 53% | ANDREW | 6 | With 40- and 51-Across, composer of 29-Down/60-Across, as well as 63-Across |
| 53% | FISTBUMPOR | 10 | With 40 and 64 Across, congratulatory choices |
| 52% | SOPHIE | 6 | With 40-Across, "Game of Thrones" actress whose family adopted the dog that played her direwolf in the series |
| 52% | TIC | 3 | With 40- and 43-Across, game that's been played in each of this puzzle's corners |
| 52% | HAGUE | 5 | Dutch seat of government, with "the" |
| 51% | CALEB | 5 | With 48-Across, novelist who wrote 40-Across and "The Angel of Darkness" |
| 51% | HARRYS | 6 | With 40-Across, US vice president who became president upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1945: 2 wds. |
| 51% | KCANDTHE | 8 | With 40-Across, group whose "Please Don't Go" was the first "Billboard" #1 hit of the 1980s (3 wds.) |
| 51% | KNIGHTS | 7 | *With 40-Across, defenders of the Holy Grail |
| 51% | SANTA | 5 | With 40-Down, seat of Orange County, Calif. |