| ANTLIA | Symbolising an air pump, one of the constellations named after scientific instruments by astronomer Lacaille who also determined the positions of some 10,000 stars (6) |
| NORMA | One of the constellations named by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille after scientific instruments (5) |
| GRUS | Symbolised by a crane, one of the constellations named after a bird, along with Aquila the Eagle, Columba the Dove, Corvus the Crow, Cygnus the Swan and others (4) |
| FLAGBEARER | Metaphorically, someone symbolising an idea or movement (e.g. Greta Thunberg for environmental activism) (4-6) |
| INDIS | Containing the star known as the Persian, one of the constellations charted in Bayer's Uranometria by means of copperplate engraving (5) |
| SAGITTA | From the Latin meaning "arrow" and listed by Ptolemy in the 2nd century, one of the constellations i |
| TUCANA | One of the constellations forming the "Southern Birds" with Grus the Crane, Pavo the Peacock and Phoenix (6) |
| COLLEGNO | Musical direction to play the strings of an instrument by striking them with the back of the bow; Italian, 'with the wood' (3,5) |
| BOYLE | Irish-born scientist whose description of an experiment on a bird in an air pump is portrayed in a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby (5) |
| ORGAN | Type of aerophone crowned the "king of instruments" by Mozart (5) |
| TRUMPET | "... and it comes out here" (this last instrument, by the way, is the subject of the song) |
| HYDRA | Largest of the constellations, in the southern hemisphere near the celestial equator (5) |
| VIRGO | Second-largest of the constellations, on the celestial equator south of Hydra (5) |
| STIRRUP | Sort of pump one could get one's foot into (7) |
| ANTARES | Roughly meaning "rival of Mars", name of the brightest star or "heart" of the constellation Scorpius (7) |
| IAPETUS | One of Saturn's moons discovered by astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini (7) |
| RHEA | One of Saturn's four moons discovered by astronomer Cassini (4) |
| SPICCATO | Style of playing stringed instruments by bouncing the bow on strings (8) |
| LEO | One of the constellation |
| OBIE | Award that becomes an instrument by changing an I to an O |
