| WINTERLUDE | Glacial celebration in our nation's Capital Region, this year until February 18th |
| TEEN | Chelsea, until February 2000 |
| WASHINGTON | It's the name shared by famous educator Booker T. and our Nation's Capital |
| ONTHEHILL | At our nation's capital, say |
| OTTAWAN | From our nation's capital |
| RONALDO | Shared record for most wins in Ballon d'Or as world men's football player of year until Lionel Messi went one clear in 2019 (7) |
| YTD | Abbreviation indicating the period from the beginning of the current year until now (3) |
| WOWS | Floors [Want MORE great xwords? avxwords.com is still just $15/year ... until 2014] |
| POLAND | Centre of galaxy in pool for our Nations League rivals (6) |
| SOPHIA | Building in Istanbul that was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520 |
| HAGIA | Building in Istanbul that was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years until the completion of the Seville Cathedral in 1520 |
| KYOTO | This historic city was capital of Japan for over 1,000 years, until it was replaced by Tokyo in 1868. (5) |
| IXELLES | Municipality in the Brussels-Capital region of Belgium that is also called Elsene (7) |
| ICEHOG | The ___ ___ Family (Mascots of Winterlude, the glacially great time in Canada's capital region) |
| EDGWARE | Ragweed all over the place in capital region |
| EARDLEY | The ___ Escarpment, in the National Capital Region's Gatineau Park |
| SEA | Our military has us covered: The U.S. Air Force flies planes through the air and the Army troops defends our nation on the ground while the Navy protects our country by ___ |
| PORTUGAL | Left university girl to our Nations League rivals (8) |
| CROATIA | Land, having changed at Cairo for our Nations League rivals (7) |
| INDEPENDENTS | What this puzzle celebrates--or, homophonically, what our nation is celebrating |
