| STAPLES | Venue of 2021 Grammy Awards |
| NOAH | Trevor ----, South African host of the 2021 Grammy Awards (4) |
| BEYONCE | U.S. singer/songwriter who achieved a record 28th win at the 2021 Grammy Awards (7) |
| HER | One-named winner of the 2021 Grammy for Song of the Year |
| PUMAS | Black ___, band whose "Colors" was nominated for a 2021 Grammy for Record of the Year |
| ICANTBREATHE | Protest song by H.E.R. that won the 2021 Grammy for Song of the Year: 3 wds. |
| RACHELMADDOW | MSNBC host who won a 2021 Grammy for the audiobook of her nonfiction book Blowout: 2 wds. |
| NAS | 2021 Grammy winner for the album "King's Disease" |
| KANYE | 2021 Grammy-winner West for "Jesus Is King" |
| GULLYBOY | 2020 movie which won 13 Filmfare awards, the most in history (as of 2021); it is based on the life of a Mumbai rapper (5,3) |
| ETNA | One of the world's most active volcanoes, in a state of eruption for much of 2021 (4) |
| FAMER | Hall of ___ (Kobe Bryant, as of 2021) |
| LUCA | Coming-of-age Pixar film of 2021 |
| TOKYO | Host city of the 2020 Summer Olympics, now scheduled for July and August of 2021 (5) |
| POWEROFDANCE | "I am a choreographer, teacher, performer...and person who sees the ___ through all of these mediums" (career-summarizing quote of 2021 winner Jawole Willa Jo Zollar) |
| SECONDGENTLEMAN | Husband of a Vice-President (and a new Merriam-Webster entry of 2021) |
| GULZAR | Popular lyricist and writer who has won the most Filmfare awards (as of 2021); his real name is Sampooran Singh |
| ZOESALDANA | Only actress in three of the five all-time highest grossing movies, as of 2021 |
| DAVINCI | Artist of both the painting with world's highest known sale price and the painting with world's highest insurance value, as of 2021 |
| DENZEL | ------ Washington, star of 2021 film The Tragedy of Macbeth (6) |
