NYT Crossword 10/22/17 (Sun.)

Cruciverbalist: Tracy Gray
Editor: Will Shortz

Solving time: 22:40

Puzzle uniqueness: "Selfies"

Supposed "Facebook Status" descriptions of areas of the world, which are the answers. Example: Clue is "Facebook Status: '10-9-8-7 ... Ringing in the New Year with 1.000.000.000 of my newest, closest friends'" with the answer being TIMESSQUARE.

Words I hadn't known until now: 

TUYERES - "Nozzles into blast furnaces" (WTF!?!?)

Trivia I didn't know:

EARLS - "_____ Court (London district)"
TOMTIT - "Chickadee, e.g."
STOAT - "Brown ermine"
ELMO - "Adventurer in Grouchland"
MOE - "Bully in 'Calvin and Hobbs'"
ATTA - "Kofi Annan's middle name"
GUM - "Extra product"
OMAHA - "Home of Berkshire Hathaway"
EDISON - "Early record label"
POTSY - "Another name for Hopscotch"

Junk Answers:

SDS - "New Left org."
SECS - "Instants"
SNL - "Emmy-winning shoe of both 1976 and 2017, in brief"
OCD - "Routine problem, for short"
CIN - "The Bengals, on scoreboards"
OSU - "Big Ten powerhouse, for short"

Clever clues: 

NOSEJOB - "Bridge work?"
POWERNAP - "Office restoration"
BLEATED - "Sounded sheepish?"
ISLES - "Some bars in the Caribbean"
GORES - "Horns in on?"
EIDERS - "Ones holding down things?"

Obscure (i.e., really reaching) words: 

TUYERES - (See above)
IAMBI - "Some feet"
POTSY - (See above)