(SABINE) HOSSENFELDER, LOST IN MATH — Kepler, in later life, became convinced that the planets play music along their paths. In his... book "Harmony of the World" he derived the planet's tunes and concluded that "the Earth sings Mi-Fa-Mi." It wasn't his best work.
| A. | Two-Pinocchio (but not a four-Pinocchio) claim (hyph.) | HALFTRUTH |
| B. | Person or thing standing in the way | OBSTACLE |
| C. | Strong on the offbeat | SYNCOPATED |
| D. | Luna's Greek counterpart | SELENE |
| E. | Founder of The Boring Company (2 wds.) | ELONMUSK |
| F. | Chowderhead, birdbrain, dolt | NITWIT |
| G. | Cow; alarm | FRIGHTEN |
| H. | Celestial; high in the heavens | EMPYREAN |
| I. | What Jimi Hendrix used to strum (2 wds.) | LEFTHAND |
| J. | Female leader of a Scout group (2 wds.) | DENMOTHER |
| K. | Geologically active moon of Saturn | ENCELADUS |
| L. | Enumeration of connected things | RECITAL |
| M. | Mark resulting from suction (2 wds.) | LOVEBITE |
| N. | Interval between frequencies with a 2:1 ratio | OCTAVE |
| O. | Goes for a basket; new branches | SHOOTS |
| P. | Blind prophet given a sex change by Hera | TIRESIAS |
| Q. | North Sea port since Anglo-Saxon times | IPSWICH |
| R. | Diner figure in an Edward Hopper painting | NIGHTHAWK |
| S. | Benoît ____, "fractalist" featured in the film "Clouds Are Not Spheres" | MANDELBROT |
| T. | B's neighbor on the lower side (2 wds.) | ASHARP |
| U. | Business-oriented laptop created by IBM | THINKPAD |
| V. | Paul ____, composer of a 1957 opera about the subject of this puzzle's quotation | HINDEMITH |