| 100% | WHOKILLED | 9 | With 59-Across, old English nursery rhyme being investigated by the detectives in this puzzle |
| 38% | AMBULANCE | 9 | Vehicle whose sound is imitated by the first three Across entries in this puzzle |
| 38% | BRAD | 4 | With 59-Down, star of the work revealed by the first letters of the Across clues, which hint at this puzzle's theme |
| 37% | ITSRAINING | 10 | With 63-Across, the opening lines to a nursery rhyme suggested by this puzzle's circled letters |
| 35% | WHOLEHOG | 8 | With 49-Across, Southern cooking tradition that can be described by the transformation happening in this puzzle |
| 35% | JAZZ | 4 | With 68-Across, what the trio in this puzzle's clues is trying to promote |
| 34% | LASTLETTERS | 11 | Explanatory information about this puzzle is revealed by reading these in the clues |
| 34% | SUNTAN | 6 | With 71 Across, what the people in this puzzle need? |
| 34% | INTERSTATE | 10 | With 59-Across, highway that goes through the 15 places indicated in this puzzle, in order, north to south |
| 33% | FALLINGDOWN | 11 | Like the contents of this puzzle's circled squares, in a nursery rhyme |
| 33% | START | 5 | All the clues in this puzzle do this with 36-Across |
| 32% | WECANREMEMBERIT | 15 | With 59-Across, story by 42-Across on which the movie "Total Recall" is based |
| 31% | JACKBUILT | 9 | Nursery rhyme: This Is the House that __ |
| 31% | LIAR | 4 | In the Pointer Sisters' "Fire" (1979), this, which rhymed with the song title, was what the song claimed the singer was |
| 30% | TWO | 3 | Number of words in this puzzle beginning with the letter "C" |
| 30% | FBIAGENTS | 9 | Govt. employees encoded by the nine other longest across entries in this puzzle ... and who might be called in to decode them |
| 30% | POPES | 5 | 10 featured last names in this puzzle are also the names of these |
| 30% | AGAINST | 7 | With 46-Across, song containing the lyric in this puzzle |
| 29% | COP | 3 | Your role in this puzzle [the asterisked clues will help you crack the case] |
| 29% | GETTINGONESDUCKS | 16 | With 69-Across, organizational process implied by eight answers in this puzzle |
| 29% | EVIL | 4 | "Most of the ___ in this world is done by people with good intentions": T.S. Eliot |
| 29% | LASTSONG | 8 | Novel by Nicholas Sparks about a 17 year old teen who is sent to stay with her father in the summer, "The ___": 2 wds. |
| 29% | JAVIER | 6 | With 33-Across, "No Country for Old Men" Oscar winner who was in the James Bond movie "Skyfall" |
| 29% | CRYPTOZOOLOGIST | 15 | Pseudoscientist investigating the "sightings" in this puzzle |
| 29% | ROPE | 4 | *Hitch material, and one of ten one-word movies in this puzzle directed by the honoree |
| 29% | EDH | 3 | Old English letter that disappeared by 1300 but which is still used in Icelandic |
| 29% | DENMARK | 7 | This country's flag is the oldest in the world |
| 28% | TART | 4 | Type of pastry made by the Queen of Hearts, in a nursery rhyme |
| 28% | HELLSKITCHEN | 12 | Manhattan neighborhood where the meal in this puzzle might be served? |
| 28% | CLARINET | 8 | With 59-Across, hint to this puzzle's secret |