A History of Short Words

From the New York Times Crossword Puzzle

USSR

Wed, 27 Nov '24
Home to Leningrad, for short
Fri, 1 Nov '24
Locale of a 1991 coup attempt by the Gang of Eight, in brief
Sat, 3 Aug '24
Old map letters
Fri, 19 Apr '24
Locale in a Beatles song
Tue, 19 Mar '24
Cold War power, for short
Wed, 31 Jan '24
It's written as "C.C.C.P." in Cyrillic
Thu, 2 Nov '23
Grp. that launched 41-Across
Sun, 15 Oct '23
Former governor of Georgia?
Mon, 21 Aug '23
It broke up on Dec. 26, 1991
Thu, 29 Jun '23
One-sixth of the world's ground surface until 1991, in brief
Thu, 6 Apr '23
Old org. for Armenia
Thu, 9 Feb '23
U.N. member until 1991
Tue, 20 Dec '22
Cold War power, in brief
Sun, 9 Oct '22
Map inits. until 1991
Sun, 14 Aug '22
Old map inits.
Wed, 29 Jun '22
Geographical inits. until 1991
Fri, 1 Apr '22
Federation formed in 1922, for short
Wed, 9 Mar '22
Losing team in the "Miracle on Ice" hockey game
Fri, 18 Feb '22
Red states, once, in brief
Tue, 16 Nov '21
Leningrad's land, for short
Sat, 7 Aug '21
It raised a major red flag
Thu, 29 Jul '21
Founding member of the U.N. Security Council
Sat, 17 Jul '21
Name in a noted '90s breakup