| 100% | SILLITOE | 8 | Wrote The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner |
| 56% | EASYPACE | 8 | Speed of a long distance runner, say: 2 wds. |
| 52% | PARISREVIEW | 11 | With “The,” magazine with a long-running interview series about the craft of writing |
| 52% | MORTIMER | 8 | Penelope —, author of novels The Pumpkin Eater and Long Distance |
| 51% | SCIATIC | 7 | Long nerve running down the back of the leg |
| 50% | OPERA | 5 | The Phantom of the __, long-running stage musical |
| 49% | HITCHKICK | 9 | Long jump technique of running "in the air" |
| 48% | EROSION | 7 | Long-term result of a run on the bank? |
| 47% | EMIL | 4 | First name of Czech long-distance runner Zátopek |
| 47% | PAAVO | 5 | First name of Finnish long-distance runner Nurmi |
| 47% | PATTI | 5 | With 40-Across, daughter of the 40th president who wrote "The Long Goodbye" |
| 46% | OPERA | 5 | "The Phantom of the ___" (longest running show in Broadway history) |
| 45% | TELEGRAPH | 9 | Long-distance message-transmitting device of the past |
| 45% | ETHIOPIAN | 9 | Nationality of long-distance runner Gebreselassie |
| 45% | LIMITS | 6 | "Without ___," 1998 biographical sports drama film based on the life of distance runner Steven Prefontaine |
| 45% | MILE | 4 | 80% of the distance that Country House ran last year on a very sloppy track |
| 45% | LEROUX | 6 | He wrote The Phantom of the Opera |
| 45% | MILES | 5 | Long distance runner's units |
| 44% | OLDEN | 5 | Of the long before times |
| 44% | OPERA | 5 | Word in the title of Broadway's longest-running show |
| 44% | FOLLETT | 7 | Ken who wrote The Pillars of the Earth |
| 44% | GOT | 3 | "America's ___ Talent," a long running talent show featuring the likes of Nick Cannon and Sharon Osbourne |
| 44% | CLUING | 6 | Writing this part of the puzzle |
| 44% | KENYANS | 7 | Outstanding long distance runners |
| 44% | QUEEN | 5 | They have the Guinness distinction of Longest Running Fan Club for a Group |
| 44% | CUBANO | 6 | Sandwich at the center of a long-running rivalry between Miami and Tampa |
| 43% | APPALACHIAN | 11 | The “A” of long-distance hiking’s A.T. |
| 43% | TENNYSON | 8 | Poet who wrote The Charge of the Light Brigade |
| 43% | UMBERTO | 7 | Italian Eco, who wrote The Name of the Rose |
| 43% | LEROUX | 6 | Author Gaston, who wrote The Phantom of the Opera |