| 100% | NOR | 3 | Word before "rain," "heat" and "gloom of night" in a postal creed |
| 61% | NOR | 3 | Word before rain, heat and gloom |
| 53% | ONE | 3 | Word before a lot of shouting and kissing, this Friday night |
| 49% | NOR | 3 | One of three in a postal creed |
| 48% | CREED | 5 | "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night ...," for postal workers |
| 45% | MANO | 4 | Word before and after a, in a fighting style |
| 45% | ASHES | 5 | Word before and after "to," in a religious phrase |
| 45% | SPY | 3 | Word before and after "vs." in a Mad feature |
| 45% | EATNO | 5 | Words before fat and lean, in a nursery rhyme |
| 45% | WERE | 4 | Word before "here" and "queer" in a pride slogan |
| 44% | YOUNG | 5 | Word before "Sheldon" and "Rock" in the names of sitcoms |
| 44% | ONE | 3 | Word before "More Night," "More Try" and "More Chance" in Billboard hits |
| 43% | DIAL | 4 | Word before "up" to mean a form of internet access used in the '90s |
| 43% | NOR | 3 | Word before "happiness," "majesty" and "fame" at the start of a Shelley poem |
| 43% | MEASURE | 7 | Word before and after "for" in a Shakespeare play title |
| 43% | NYET | 4 | Word before and after "Tovarich" in a "Doctor Zhivago" number |
| 43% | TOBE | 4 | Words before and after "or not" in a Shakespeare quote |
| 42% | UNTIL | 5 | Word before "Yesterday" in a Tony Bennett hit and "Tomorrow" in a Sammy Kaye hit |
| 42% | RAISEEMUP | 9 | Words before a toast, and what you can do to the ends of the starred answers |
| 41% | EKED | 4 | Squeaked (out), and a rhyme of a word in this clue |
| 41% | ITSSO | 5 | Words before “Easy” in a Linda Ronstadt title and “Hard” in a John Lennon title |
| 40% | SOHUMAN | 7 | Words before "a Brain" and "an Animal" in book titles |
| 40% | ABOUT | 5 | Word before "Schmidt" and "a Boy" in movie titles |
| 40% | ELL | 3 | Shape of a right angle and a word you'll find hidden in "Ellen" |
| 39% | WHEEL | 5 | Word before "house" to refer to a part of a boat or ship, and something that's not actually a house |
| 39% | WAVE | 4 | Ocean-related word before and after "on" for the title of a Pat Green song, mentioning a surfer's ride |
| 39% | RUNDOWN | 7 | Seedy, and an apt description of a word hidden in 3-, 9-, 29- and 33-Down |
| 39% | ODDSANDENDS | 11 | Miscellany ... or a description of the final words in 15-, 23-, 30-, 38- and 43-Across |
| 38% | WILD | 4 | Word repeated before "West" in a film and 1960s TV series |
| 38% | TRAIL | 5 | A "mix" of this word straddles the two words in 17- and 57-Across and 11- and 29-Down |