A surprise escape from the police! (4,4,3,4)
I believe the answer is:
bolt from the blue
'a surprise' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'escape from the police' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'escape' could be 'bolt' (I've seen this before) and 'bolt' is found within the answer.
'from' could be 'o' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'o' is found in the answer.
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is found in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bolt from the blue that I've seen before include "unexpected event" , "Sprint by university athlete" .)