| PETERI | Founder of the first Russian naval base |
| NABOKOV | "Lolita" novelist Vladimir ___, creator of the first Russian crosswords |
| SPUTNIK | Name of the first Russian satellite launched in 1957 (7) |
| POTEMKIN | Battleship ___ , silent film directed by Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein about a Russian naval mutiny (8) |
| IVAN | Known as The Terrible, which Grand Duke of Moscow was the first Russian ruler to be formally crowned Tsar of Russia? (4) |
| TROUBLEMAKER | The first Russian ready to meet Creator - he disturbs the peace (12) |
| OKHOTSK | The first Russian settlement on the Pacific Coast, established in 1643 (7) |
| TROUBLE | The first Russian money to cause distress (7) |
| MIR | I'm backing the first Russian space station (3) |
| EUGENEONEGIN | The first Russian novel named after a "superfluous man" |
| MARIA | Who was the first Russian to win a singles title at Wimbledon? (5,9) |
| SHARAPOVA | Who was the first Russian to win a singles title at Wimbledon? (5,9) |
| PINKERTON | Founder of the first detective agency in the US |
| CYRUS | -----the Great, founder of the first Persian Empire (5) |
| BUNIN | First Russian recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1933) known for novels such as The Village (1910) and The Life of Arseniev (1927-39) (4,5) |
| ANNLEE | Founder of the first U.S. Shaker colony |
| CYRUSTHEGREAT | Founder of the first Persian Empire |
| LEVI | _ Strauss, founder of the first company to manufacture blue jeans (4) |
| REUTER | Paul, German-born founder of the first news agency (6) |
| ASA | ___ Philip Randolph, civil rights activist and founder of the first AFL-chartered African American-led labor union |
