| 100% | WHITEHOUSE | 10 | With 50 Across, to whom Tom Hanks gave a 39 Across in 2017 |
| 47% | COLIN | 5 | With 50-Across, actor who had a bit part in "That Thing You Do!" alongside his father Tom |
| 42% | SHOHEI | 6 | With 34-Across, Dodgers pitcher who, in 2024, became the only player to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season |
| 40% | BEST | 4 | With 52 Across, one who may give a wedding speech |
| 40% | PAUL | 4 | With 50-Across, "Ant-Man" actor who plays a murdered Hollywood actor on "Only Murders in the Building" |
| 40% | ABRAHAM | 7 | With 39-Across, president who proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day in 1863 |
| 39% | ESTES | 5 | Kefauver who ran with 39 Across in 1956 |
| 39% | SERGIO | 6 | With 12-Across, golfer who won the 2017 Masters Tournament in a sudden-death playoff |
| 39% | SEA | 3 | With 39-Across, pirate witch who was a foe of Popeye in early comics |
| 38% | SHORT | 5 | With 39-Across, some Sundance submissions … or a hint to four squares in this puzzle |
| 38% | EVEN | 4 | With 34-Across, 50-50 chance ... or a hint to answering six equations in this puzzle |
| 38% | NBA | 3 | With 39-Across, classic sports video game ... or a hint to four squares in this puzzle |
| 38% | RICHARD | 7 | With 19 Across, billionaire who took a notable vacation in July 2021 |
| 37% | HALSEY | 6 | Singer/songwriter who had a #5 hit in 2017 with "Bad at Love" |
| 37% | WORKINGHARDOR | 13 | With 47 Across, facetious question to someone putting in a shift |
| 37% | TOUCHBASE | 9 | Stay in contact, and a hint to the ends of 17-, 24-, 39- and 50-Across |
| 37% | ORR | 3 | Marian ___, mayor of Cheyenne, WY since 2017, who was in the news due to a spat with the Governor of Wyoming in 2019 |
| 37% | THURGOOD | 8 | With 52-Across, Supreme Court justice who's the title role played by Chadwick Boseman in a 2017 biopic |
| 36% | CHRISTINA | 9 | With 50-Across, actress who's a crossword fan |
| 36% | YOUVEGOTMAIL | 12 | Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film with a Thanksgiving scene in a supermarket (3 wds.) |
| 36% | OTTO | 4 | "A Man Called ___," Tom Hanks film with a palindromic name in its title |
| 36% | 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% | DONOR | 5 | Organ ___ (person who gives a kidney to one in need, for example) |
| 36% | AZARIA | 6 | Hank who refused to appear in “The Problem with Apu” |
| 36% | HEADSOFSTATE | 12 | Country leaders, and along with names in parentheses, a hint to 18-, 24-, 39- and 49-Across |
| 35% | ENYA | 4 | Singer for whom a fish native to the Orinoco was named in 2017 |
| 35% | NEED | 4 | "I ___ to Know" (song by a rock artist who left us in 2017) |
| 35% | SIMU | 4 | With 50-Across, actor who plays Shang-Chi in Marvel films |
| 35% | BIEBER | 6 | Singer who gave his name to a "fever" in the 2010s |
| 35% | JENNIFER | 8 | With 50-Across, "A Beautiful Mind" actress who plays bar owner Penelope "Penny" Benjamin in "Top Gun: Maverick" |