| STATEHOOD | Maryland achieved it in 1776 |
| SEWED | Betsy did it in 1776 |
| SERENASLAM | Tennis feat named for the athlete who achieved it in 2003 and 2015 |
| EGOT | *Acronym that spiked in usage in February, when Viola Davis achieved it by winning a Grammy |
| ABOLITION | Wilberforce achieved it, changing oil in boat |
| RETICULE | Cruel, tie that's achieved, it being in the bag (8) |
| USA | It achieved independence from Great Britain in 1776 (3) |
| JOHNCONSTABLE | English landscape painter born in East Bergholt in Suffolk in 1776 (4,9) |
| BOLSHOI | Russian ballet company founded in Moscow in 1776 (7) |
| SUFFOLK | A county depicted in paintings by John Constable, where he was born in 1776 (7) |
| PHIBETAKAPPA | Oldest academic honour society in the US, founded in 1776 and a secret society until 1831 (3,4,5) |
| PHILADELPHIA | City in Pennsylvania, US, that saw the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 (12) |
| ILLUMINATI | Any of various groups claiming special religious enlightenment, especially a secret society founded in Bavaria in 1776; Latin, 'the enlightened ones' (10) |
| STLEGER | Oldest of Britain's five Classic horse races, established in Doncaster in 1776 (2,5) |
| GEORGEIII | King whose decapitated two-ton lead statue in NYC was turned into 42,000 musket balls in 1776 |
| BAUTISTA | An explorer who visited the IV in 1776 |
| DEANZA | An explorer who visited the IV in 1776 |
| GEORGIA | *One of thirteen in 1776 |
| TORY | British sympathizer in 1776 |
| LEE | Virginia delegate in "1776" |
