List of top US students reportedly having repeated successes (2,1,4)
I believe the answer is:
on a roll
'top us students reportedly having repeated successes' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.
'list of' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'list' could be 'roll' (roll is a kind of list) and 'roll' is found within the answer.
'of' could be 'o' and 'o' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'na' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for on a roll that I've seen before include "Going through a good patch" , "Hitting a purple patch (as bacon might be?)" , "enjoying continuing success" , "Having long spell of good luck" , "Butter may be seen here" .)