Delicate-looking friend, an egghead (4)

I believe the answer is:

pale

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'delicate' is the definition.
(thesaurus)

'looking friend an egghead' is the wordplay.
'looking friend' becomes 'pal' (pal can mean a friend. I am not sure about the 'looking' bit.).
'an egghead' becomes 'e' (head letter of 'egg').
'pal'+'e'='PALE'

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(Other definitions for pale that I've seen before include "Light-coloured" , "Light in colour" , "Lightly coloured" , "White" , "beyond which one is out of line?" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.

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