| 100% | TUNE | 4 | Melody, or to correct the pitch of a musical instrument |
| 66% | TUNER | 5 | Technician hired to correct the sound of a musical instrument |
| 55% | SOPRANINO | 9 | Term for a musical instrument such as a recorder or saxophone with the highest pitch of all those in its family |
| 55% | MUTE | 4 | Device used to muffle the sound of a musical instrument |
| 46% | TUNED | 5 | Calibrated the sound of a musical instrument |
| 46% | PRELUDE | 7 | Musical piece preceding a fugue or forming the orchestral introduction to an act of an opera |
| 45% | REED | 4 | Part of a musical instrument that anagrams to an animal |
| 45% | DOWNTHEPIPE | 11 | How a perfect pitch comes ... or a hint to the missing parts of the shaded answers |
| 44% | TOWN | 4 | Word that can follow Hades or Urine to make the title of a musical |
| 41% | TABLA | 5 | Musical instrument of India consisting of a pair of drums of variable pitch |
| 41% | TUNES | 5 | Adjusts an instrument to the correct pitch |
| 41% | ADHESION | 8 | The action or process of sticking to a surface |
| 40% | TABLA | 5 | Indian musical instrument consisting of a pair of drums of variable pitch |
| 40% | HOMESTRETCH | 11 | Last leg of a race ... or a hint to the circled letters |
| 40% | OBOE | 4 | Woodwind instrument used to set the pitch of an orchestra |
| 40% | PRONOUNCE | 9 | The correct way to say or sound out a word |
| 40% | ORCHESTRA | 9 | Musical group, or a hint to the ends of 20-, 37- and 52-Across |
| 40% | CINEMA | 6 | The art of film, or a place to see a film |
| 40% | SAXOPHONEBOOKS | 14 | Publications dedicated to the history of a jazz instrument? |
| 39% | WORD | 4 | Part of a sentence, or change a letter in 22a to get the answer |
| 39% | COUNTERPOINT | 12 | Musical technique; the simultaneous sounding of two or more parts or melodies |
| 39% | AURATIC | 7 | Relating to the essence of a person or artistic piece |
| 39% | INFANTE | 7 | Son of a king of Spain or Portugal, especially one not heir to the throne |
| 39% | TONAL | 5 | Of a musical pitch |
| 39% | III | 3 | The third ... or a hint to the rhyming ends of every Across answer |
| 39% | HARMONY | 7 | Combination of musical pitches or tones into a pleasing composition, say |
| 39% | SETSSTRAIGHT | 12 | Disabuses of false notions … or a hint to the circled letters |
| 39% | GONGS | 5 | Circular instruments hit to signify the end of a meditation session |
| 39% | RESONANCE | 9 | Ringing, reverbing quality of a musical instrument |
| 38% | YOUVEGOT | 8 | Start of a reassuring phrase ... or the start to 20a, 41a, 55a, or 38d: 2 wds. |