A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

CEE

Wed, 20 Aug '25
Middling grade
Wed, 23 Jul '25
Tragic ending?
Fri, 23 May '25
First in command?
Tue, 11 Mar '25
Middling mark
Tue, 11 Feb '25
Average grade
Mon, 27 Jan '25
2.0
Fri, 22 Dec '23
Acrylic finish?
Mon, 20 Nov '23
Letter repeated in the symbol for "closed captioning"
Tue, 22 Mar '22
Third letter in an alphabet song
Wed, 16 Mar '22
Average mark
Sun, 6 Mar '22
Cold open?
Mon, 14 Feb '22
So-so grade
Sun, 11 Apr '21
Middling grade