Children’s character strange to find in New York (5)
I believe the answer is:
noddy
'children's character' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'strange to find in new york' is the wordplay.
'strange' becomes 'odd' (I've seen this before).
'to find in' is an insertion indicator.
'new york' becomes 'ny'.
'odd' placed inside 'ny' is 'NODDY'.
(Other definitions for noddy that I've seen before include "childish character" , "Big Ears' pal" , "Little Blyton creation" , "often with big ears seen in capitals" , "Nineteen [TWIT]" .)