A surprising way to be taken (5)
I believe the answer is:
aback
'way to be taken' is the definition.
(I've seen this in another clue)
'a surprising' is the wordplay.
'surprising' becomes 'back' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'a'+'back'='ABACK'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aback that I've seen before include "(Taken) by surprise" , "Sternwards" , "dismayed to be taken thus?" , "Towards the rear (arch.)" , "To take someone -- is to surprise them" .)