| 100% | JOLENE | 6 | Woman of whom it's begged "Please don't take my man," in a 1973 hit |
| 44% | JOLENE | 6 | Woman whom Dolly Parton pleads with not to take her man, in a 1973 hit |
| 38% | KEN | 3 | Character in a hit 2023 film who sings "Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blonde fragility?" |
| 37% | JOLENE | 6 | The "you" of the song lyric "I'm begging of you, please don't take my man" |
| 35% | JOLENE | 6 | #1 Dolly Parton country hit with the lyric "I'm beggin' of you, please don't take my man" |
| 35% | LOLA | 4 | In a Kinks hit s/he "walked like a woman and talked like a man" |
| 35% | JOSIE | 5 | Title woman in a 1977 Steely Dan hit who's "the pride of the neighborhood" |
| 32% | JENNY | 5 | Woman in a 1982 hit who can be reached using the starts of the answers to the starred clues |
| 31% | JOLENE | 6 | 1973 Dolly Parton chart-topper with the lyric "Please don't take my man" |
| 30% | CAVITYSAM | 9 | It's who you operate on in a game of Operation |
| 30% | ELEANORRIGBY | 12 | Title woman of song who "lives in a dream" |
| 30% | NUN | 3 | Woman who takes a vow of celibacy |
| 30% | NUN | 3 | Woman who takes a vow of poverty |
| 30% | SWEARJAR | 8 | It's for those who don't give a darn |
| 29% | DESIREE | 7 | Title woman who "made it right" in a Neil Diamond hit song |
| 29% | TEA | 3 | "It's not my cup of ___" ("I don't like it") |
| 29% | MINUET | 6 | It's done in the form of an S or a Z |
| 29% | HANDFUL | 7 | "I will show you fear in a __ of dust": T S Eliot |
| 29% | THETANGO | 8 | Pacino danced it in "Scent of a Woman" |
| 29% | SUSANBANTHONY | 13 | Suffragist pioneer who was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1973: 3 wds. |
| 29% | RAVEN | 5 | In a poem, it "perched upon a bust of Pallas just above my chamber door" |
| 28% | MAY | 3 | "To Whom It ___ Concern," 2016 film starring Wilmer Valderrama ... or the start of a New Year's wish highlighted in this puzzle |
| 28% | INGA | 4 | Woman who took a "roll in ze hay" in "Young Frankenstein" |
| 28% | MAID | 4 | Woman who's "a-milking" in "The 12 Days of Christmas" |
| 28% | MAN | 3 | Complete the Dolly Parton lyric, "Jolene, Jolene, I'm begging of you, please don't take my ___..." |
| 28% | PACINO | 6 | Actor Al ___ who starred in "Scent of a Woman" |
| 28% | HEATHLEDGER | 11 | Actor who sang Frankie Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" in a movie: 2 wds. |
| 28% | BERRA | 5 | Yankee Yogi who's credited with saying "When you come to a fork in the road, take it" |
| 28% | EVE | 3 | Woman who was tempted by a serpent in the Book of Genesis |
| 28% | BEAT | 4 | "___ It," a hit single from Michael Jackson's album in 16a that won a Grammy for "Record of the Year" |