| 100% | ITALIAN | 7 | With 49-Down, its form follows the pattern of the circled letters |
| 55% | DOUBLE | 6 | With 55-Down, form of the contents of the circled letters |
| 47% | BASEBALL | 8 | With 49-Across, a hint to the circled letters |
| 45% | CROSS | 5 | With 36-Down, intersection ... as suggested by the circled letters in the middle of this puzzle? |
| 45% | BROKEN | 6 | With 49-Across, it keeps repeating itself ... and, based on the first and last letters, an apt description of each answer to a starred clue |
| 45% | SQUARE | 6 | With 55-Across, what the circled letters, reading clockwise, form |
| 45% | ISMELLTHEBLOOD | 14 | With 50-Down, cry made in [the circled letters] after the starts of 54-, 33-, 30- and 14-Down |
| 44% | APICAL | 6 | Formed with the tip of the tongue, like the letter L |
| 44% | POSTITNOTES | 11 | Sticky yellow squares ... or a description of the circled letters and what they follow? |
| 43% | PARTNERS | 8 | With the circled letters, investors not involved in the management of their businesses |
| 43% | CACAO | 5 | With 3-Down, its seeds are the source of chocolate |
| 42% | THREE | 5 | With the circled letters, a literal depiction of what you need to win tic-tac-toe? |
| 42% | DIAMETER | 8 | Straight line connecting the centre of a circle with two points on its perimeter |
| 42% | PLANETARY | 9 | With 36-Down, astronomical rarity ... or a hint to the circled letters |
| 42% | SQUARE | 6 | With 31-Down, hoedown activities, and a hint to the circled letters |
| 42% | SINKING | 7 | With 43-Down, uneasy anticipation ... and a hint to the circled letters |
| 42% | MEHDEINCANADA | 13 | Like all the answers with pairs of circled letters, punnily |
| 41% | WATER | 5 | With 68-Across, what the groups of circled letters are famous examples of |
| 41% | FACECARD | 8 | It may be half of a blackjack … with or without the shaded letter |
| 41% | REESES | 6 | With 41-Down, composition of a trail followed by [circled letters] |
| 41% | PHI | 3 | Letter that rhymes with the two that follow it |
| 41% | PARABOLA | 8 | Symmetrical curve formed by the intersection of a cone with a plane parallel to its side |
| 41% | LAYER | 5 | With 51-Down, description of the circled answers? |
| 40% | INSIDEJOB | 9 | Betrayal of trust, hinted at by the circled letters, which form an apt John le Carré title |
| 40% | SHELLCOMPANIES | 14 | Corporations with little business activity, and what are formed by the circled letters |
| 40% | JUSTHAVINGABALL | 15 | Living it up ... or a hint to the six groups of circled letters |
| 40% | PIERRE | 6 | Only state capital that shares no letters with the name of its state |
| 40% | LINCOLN | 7 | With 124-Across, dedicated in October 1913, project represented by the 13 pairs of circled letters |
| 40% | NOTHINGINCOMMON | 15 | Lack of similar interests, and what the three long answers with circled letters have? |
| 39% | VICIOUSCYCLES | 13 | Hard patterns to break ... or a punny description of the climbs up the circled letters |