| NINEVEH | The oldest city of the ancient Assyrian empire and its capital during the reign of Sennacherib, later destroyed in 612BC |
| OSAKA | Industrial port, and the oldest city of Japan, on Honshu (5) |
| RUSSIAN | The abdication of Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, marked the end of this empire and its ruling Romanov dynasty. (7) |
| MOSUL | City of northern Iraq on the river Tigris which includes the ancient Assyrian city of Nineveh (5) |
| SANTAFE | Oldest city of all U.S. capitals |
| ASSYRIAN | "The ........ came down like a wolf on the fold" in 18's The Destruction of Sennacherib (8) |
| THEBES | Chief city of the ancient Greek region of Boeotia, destroyed by Alexander the Great in 336 BC (6) |
| MACHUPICCHU | Peruvian city of the ancient Incas discovered by archaeologist Hiram Bingham in 1911: 2 wds. |
| ANAPAEST | A peasant involved in the destruction of Sennacherib? |
| CARTHAGE | City of the ancient world in what is now Tunisia (8) |
| SALERNO | City that briefly served as the Kingdom of Italy's de-facto capital during the Second World War |
| NIJMEGEN | Former Roman settlement called the oldest city in the Netherlands, in the province of Gelderland (8) |
| ASUR | An ancient Assyrian city on the River Tigris and traditional capital of Assyria. |
| AGUA | Liquid at the end of the names of a Central American country and its capital |
| TURKU | Port city known in Swedish as Abo, believed to be the oldest city in Finland (where it was the capital until 1812) (5) |
| SAVANNAH | The oldest city in the US state of Georgia, established in 1733 (8) |
| AFGHANISTAN | Nation, next door to Pakistan, that's been a battleground for the forces of the British Raj, the Soviet Empire and the coalition of the willing |
| BYZANTIUM | Ancient city which became the capital of the Eastern Roman empire and later Istanbul (9) |
| SDAK | Only U.S. state in which the name of the state and its capital share no letters: Abbr. |
| ESARHADDON | Third king of the Sargonid Dynasty of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (10) |
