Barren daylight breaking at crack of dawn (6,3,5)

I believe the answer is:

bright and early

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'at crack of dawn' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this definition defines the answer.

'barren daylight breaking' is the wordplay.
'breaking' indicates an anagram.
'barren'+'daylight'='barrendaylight'
'barrendaylight' with letters rearranged gives 'BRIGHT AND EARLY'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for bright and early that I've seen before include "in good time" , "first thing" , "At the crack of dawn" .)

I've seen this clue in The Everyman puzzle in The Observer.

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