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Catholic student reaches peak, being most smart (9)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cleverest

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

'most smart' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are superlative adjectives. Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?

'catholic student reaches peak' is the wordplay.
'catholic student reaches' becomes 'cl' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'peak' becomes 'everest' (Everest is an example).
'cl'+'everest'='CLEVEREST'

'being' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for cleverest that I've seen before include "Smartest" , "Brighter than others" , "most able" , "of superlative brilliance" .)

I've seen this clue in The Daily Express.
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