USSR

CIS forerunner

• (missing clue)

• ... riddle wrapped in a mystery

• '84 Olymmpics no-show

• '84 Olympics boycotter

• 'Back in the ___'

• 'Back in the ___' (Beatles song)

• 'Back in the ___' (Beatles)

• Back in the ___, you don't know how lucky you are, boy

• Back in the ___ (Beatles hit)

• Back in the ___ (Beatles jam)

• Back in the ___ (Beatles tune)

• Back in the ___ (Fab Four tune)

• Back in the___ (1968 song)

• Evil Empire, according to Reagan

• Evil Empire

• Evil empire initials

• Evil empire of the '80s

• Georgia, etc., once

• Gorky Park setting

• Miracle on Ice losing team

• Miracle on Ice opponent

• Red letters

• Rocky IV setting: Abbr.

• Spies Like Us setting

• The Evil Empire

• The Kremlin Letter state

• 1960 European Championship winner

• 1968 Beatles' hit 'Back in the ___'

• 1972 Summer Olympics medal champion

• 1980 Olympics host

• 1980 Summer Olympics host

• 1980 Winter Olympics host

• 1984 Olympics no-show

• 1984 Summer Games boycotter

• 1984 Summer Olympics boycotter

• 1984 summer Olympics no-show

• 20th C. superpower

• 20th-c. nation

• 20th-cen. superpower

• 20th-cent. power

• A country's fmr. name

• A neighbor of Pol.

• Abbr. in a White Album title

• Abbr. in old atlases

• Abbreviation in a White Album title

• Afghanistan occupier, in the 1980s

• Aka CCCP

• Amer. ally in W.W. II

• Amer. WWII ally

• An Afg. neighbor

• Atlas abbr. before 1991

• Atlas abbr. until 1991

• Bear country?

• Beatles song Back in the ___

• Beatles. hit Back in the ___

• Beatles' Back in the ___

• Beatles' hit 'Back in the ___'

• Big blotch on old maps

• Biggest breakup of 1991

• Billy Joel once played there

• Billy Joel played a concert there

• Birthplace of no one under the age of 17

• Bloc letters, once

• Bloc that dissolved in 1991

• BOAC destination, in song

• Boycotter in 1984 headlines

• Boycotter of the '84 L.A. Olympics

• Boycotter of the L.A. Games

• Brezhnev's empire

• Brezhnev's fed.

• Brezhnev's initials?

• Brezhnev's land

• Brezhnev's land, in brief

• Buryat Republic's locale

• Bygone atlas initials

• Bygone atlas listing

• C.I.S. predecessor

• C.I.S., formerly

• C.I.S., once

• CCCP on 20th-century maps

• CCCP was on its stamps

• CCCP, in English

• CCCP, in the West

• CCCP, to us

• CIS precursor

• Cold War abbr.

• Cold War adversary

• Cold War adversary: Abbr.

• Cold War bloc

• Cold War concern

• Cold War country

• Cold War country, briefly

• Cold War country, for short

• Cold war country: Abbr.

• Cold War empire: Abbr.

• Cold War enemy

• Cold War foe

• Cold War foe, briefly

• Cold war foe, for short

• Cold War gp.

• Cold War initials

• Cold War inits.

• Cold War letters

• Cold War participant

• Cold War participant: abbr.

• Cold War power

• Cold war power: Abbr.

• Cold War principal

• Cold War rival (Abbr.)

• Cold War rival of the USA

• Cold War side

• Cold war superpower

• Collapsed empire

• Communist powerhouse, once

• Cosigner of the ABM Treaty

• Cosmonaut's country, for short

• Country Billy Joel once played

• Country Billy Joel played famously

• Country dissolved Dec. 8, 1991

• Country estab. in 1922

• Country featured in a Beatles song

• Country founded in 1922

• Country founded in 1922: Abbr.

• Country in a White Album title

• Country in a 1969 Beatles song

• Country in a 1969 Beatles song title

• Country in a Beatle song

• Country in a Beatles song title

• Country in a Beatles title

• Country many world chess champs represented

• Country mentioned in a Beatles title

• Country that competed in the Olympics before it dissolved in 1991: Abbr.

• Country that disappeared in '91

• Country where Billy Joel played a famous concert

• Country where Billy Joel played a tour

• Country with a hammer-and-sickle flag, for short

• Ctry. announcing an Olympic pull-out on 5/7/84

• Dec. 1991 newsmaker

• Defunct empire.

• Empire until 1991: Abbr.

• Erstwhile empire, in brief

• Erstwhile power

• Ex-superpower

• Ex-superpower letters

• Ex-UN member

• Extinct red giant

• Fed. dissolved by the Belavezha Accords

• Fed. that dissolved in 1991

• Federation formed July 6, 1923: Abbr.

• First team to beat the USA in Olympic basketball

• Five-Year Plan empire

• Five-Year Plan implementer, for short

• Five-Year Plan nation

• Focus of a big breakup in '91

• Former evil empire

• Former 15-member grp.

• Former communist country

• Former communist country, briefly

• Former communist state

• Former empire

• Former empire inits.

• Former Eurasian superpower

• Former federation

• Former G.D.R. ally

• Former geopolitical initials

• Former gt. power

• Former inits. in Kiev

• Former largest nation, for short

• Former map abbr.

• Former map initials

• Former map letters

• Former Olympic team

• Former Olympics powerhouse

• Former power

• Former Red giant

• Former red states?

• Former rival of the USA

• Former Russ. federation

• Former Russian nation: Abbr.

• Former Security Council member

• Former Soviet inits.

• Former state whose motto was Workers of the world, unite!

• Former super power, briefly

• Former superpower

• Former superpower's letters

• Former U.N. member

• Former UN intials

• Former Warsaw Pact member

• Former Warsaw Pact nation

• Former world power

• Former world power (Abbr.)

• Former world power, briefly

• Former world power, for short

• Former world power, shortly

• Frequent David Remnick topic

• George Kennan specialty

• Georgia used to be part of it

• Gorbachev was its last leader: Abbr.

• Gorbachev was its last pres.

• Gorbachev's country (abbr.)

• Gorbachev's empire

• Gorbachev's fed.

• Gorbachev's nation

• Gorby's crumbled empire: abbr.

• Gorby's domain

• Gorby's former domain

• Gorby's land

• Gorby's nation

• Gorby's realm, once: Abbr.

• Gp. dissolved 12/26/1991

• Home of chess champs, once

• Home of the upright bear.

• Home to every undisputed world chess champions during the 1950's and 1960's

• Host country of the 1980 Summer Olympics: Abbr.

• HUAC concern

• I>Back in the ___I>

• Ice hockey medalist in every Olympics it competed in

• Initials on a pre-1991 map

• Initials on old maps

• Intl. power, once

• Intl. superpower, once

• It annexed Latvia in '40

• It became the CIS

• It broke up in 1991

• It broke up in Dec. 1991

• It broke up in Dec. of '91

• It ceased to be in Dec. 1991

• It died in 1991

• It died in 1991 at the age of 68

• It disappeared on Dec. 26, 1991

• It dissolved in Dec. '91

• It dissolved in December 1991

• It dissolved into the CIS

• It had a Black Sea Fleet

• It's been dead a decade

• It's now C.I.S.

• It's Russia now

• Its parts included an Arm. and a Lat.

• Ivan Drago's Rocky IV backers

• J.F.K. adversary

• K.G.B. country

• Kamchatka to Kaliningrad, once

• KGB creator

• KGB funder

• KGB locale

• KGB whereabouts

• KGB's land

• KGB's place

• Khrushchev's concern

• Khrushchev's country

• Khrushchev's country: Abbr.

• Khrushchev's domain

• Khrushchev's home

• Khrushchev's land (abbr.)

• Khrushchev's realm: Abbr.

• L. Brezhnev's concern

• Land in a Beatles song

• Land of bears?

• Largest country, once (abbr.)

• Largest nation, once

• Lenin's land

• Lenin's land, for short

• Lenin's land: Abbr.

• Leningrad setting: abbr.

• Letter's on Olga Korbut's uniform jacket, once

• Letters for an ex-superpower

• Letters on an old Asian map

• Letters on an old map

• Letters on an old map of Asia

• Letters on old maps

• Locale in a 1968 Beatles song

• Locale in a Beatles song

• Locale in a Beatles song title

• Locale in a Beatles title

• Locale in a Beatles title spot

• Officially dissolved 31 December 1991

• A former communist country in eastern Europe and northern Asia

• Established in 1922

• Included Russia and 14 other soviet socialist republics (Ukraine and Byelorussia an others)